Aftermath
by CyberFreq
Summary: CHAPTER 13 UP The Arrancar War was won, but at a heavy cost. People died, went insane. But, new leaders have been found. Peace is being restored. Sanity has been given back. New and old enemies lurk on the horizon. I don't own Bleach.
1. Ch 1  Exposition

Disclaimer – The only Bleach I own comes in a small white plastic container used for laundry.

A/N – If this fic isn't quite up to your standards I apologize now. I haven't had the best track records for fics, but I hope to break it with this one. Bear with me for a few chapters, kay?

Ch 1: Exposition

Sousuke Aizen has been killed. His two lieutenants, Ichimaru Gin and Kaname Tousen, have also both been killed. Every Espada, Fraccion, and Numero – minus Grimmjow and Neliel – have been eliminated. The threat from arrancar invasion has been essentially removed. Of course, arrancar will continue to exist, as hollows are always forming, and gillians will always try to remove their masks. But the main threat of an invasion had been dealt with.

However, the victory of Sereitei has not been a perfect one. Several hundreds of shinigami were killed, including several captains. Of the nine which were active during the war, only five managed to remain alive at the end of the war: Hitsugaya Toushirou, Kyouraku Shunsui, Soifon, Kuchiki Byakuya, and Komamura Sajin.

Yamamoto-soutaichou was killed after taking out the Quarto Espada, Ulquiorra, and the Segundo Espada, Halibel. Old and exhausted as he was after the battle, it was a simple matter for the Primero Espada, Stark, to continue where the other two left off and easily decapitate the elder shinigami.

Unohana Retsu was killed while tending to the wounded shinigami all over the battlefield. It was near to the end of the final battle, and after tending to so many wounded, even the Taichou of the 4th was feeling tired and wiped out. It was a simple matter for Gin to stab her through the bottom of Minazuki and kill her along with the dozen or so shinigami inside.

Zaraki Kenpachi went out blazing. Weeks before the final battle he had finally managed to communicate with his zanpakutou, and as such was even more unstoppable than before. However, even a Taichou of Zaraki's standards faced risked when he dealt with all 99 Numero-ranked arrancar at once. The 11th Taichou had been killed by a lance through his spiritual organs, thus rendering him useless and easily dealt with even by an unranked arrancar.

Kurotsuchi Mayuri was an odd case. In his usual manner, he unleashed his Bankai almost immediately, leading to the deaths of many Fraccion and unseated shinigami at once. It wasn't until after he challanged the Quinto Espada, Nnoitra, that he faced any challenges. Nnoitra proved far too capable of dealing with him, able to strike at such a far distance with his huge moon-shaped scythe and at a close distance with his bulked-up minotaur-like form once he used his resureccion. Seeing no other way out, Kurotsuchi-taichou did the only thing he could think of – he grabbed Nnoitra and ordered Konjiki Ashisogi Jizou to run them both through. He didn't let go until they were both dead.

Ukitake Juushiro didn't even make it to the final battle. His disease had finally claimed him mere days before the final invasion into Hueco Mundo was planned and died peacefully.

But the biggest event during the war was the death of Kurosaki Ichigo, which – though it helped Sereitei immensely by allowing him to act as a full-time shinigami – it left his family in ruins and ruined him mentally. He managed to kill the three top men in Aizen's army – Aizne himself and the two shinigami traitors – but at the cost of his state of mind because now his two little sisters had no family left because Isshin, retired though he was, drafted himself into Sereitei's army and died in the war as well. Since it was his second death, he couldn't come back ever, and his death combined with Ichigo's first death led Ichigo to insanity.

However, their sacrifices were not in vain. Sereitei was in a state of peace, and it could rebuild.

This is the aftermath of the war.

A/N – I hope it's an okay introduction. I know I killed off waay a lot of people from the get-go, but this way I can mold it into my own story and I can create it how I feel.

Don't worry, it shouldn't suck.

And don't be alarmed if I don't update for a while, I have school work too and I'm working on Eagle stuff for scouts so I'll be busy. Expect once every week or so

Also, if you have any wants for captains, lemme know. I'm a little stuck on one or two posts..

And please, leave some cheese and a review on the way out.


	2. Ch 2  New Leadership

Disclaimer – I own Bleach not.

Ch 2 – New Leadership

_Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. _The emergency meeting alarm rang through Sereitei, easily heard by the five remaining taichous. Each taichou was wondering who had called the meeting, but each also knew there was only one way to find out.

Hitsugaya arrived in the captains' hall first, trying to find who placed the signal out. Since he could see nobody, he figured he would sit in his chair and wait. As he sat down, he thought about the captains who would not be here; as he reflected on each captain, he looked at their former seat and gazed upon the haori which adorned it.

His gaze shifted first from the 3rd seat, to the 4th then 5th, moving over each seat until he arrived at the soutaichou's chair. The huge white haori adorned with the symbol for the 1st division was strung over the back of the magnificent chair. The haori made Hitsugaya ponder the though of who the next soutaichou would be.

Just as he was about to start a small nap because it was taking the remaining captains too long to get there, Soifon and Komamura showed up in tandem, followed shortly by Byakuya. Hitsugaya, the genius that he is, decided that he now knew who called the meeting.

"Kyouraku-taichou, why has this meeting been called?" he asked the room, not seriously expecting an answer.

"Because Sereitei needs new leaders, Toushirou-kun," replied the flamboyantly dressed shinigami, dropping from his post on the roof into the chair of the 8th division taichou. "The war with Aizen cost us more than just eight captains; we need a new soutaichou. Our numbers have been cut in half, and we need to act fast to rebuild Sereitei before any malevolent forces – such as the remaining Menos or Arrancar – manage to send even a small force to finish us."

"Gentlemen, lady, I have here a sealed letter from Yamamoto-soutaichou. He said he wished to have it read as soon as he died, if he had not named a successor before then. I believe this situation calls for it, eh?" stated Kyouraku as he held the aforementioned letter in his hand in front of the other four taichous.

"Let's open it then!" exclaimed Komamura, always the impatient one. "It probably is going to tell us who he wants as the next soutaichou!"

"Alright, big guy, slow down," said Kyouraku, flippant as always. In truth, he was just as nervous as Komamura, because if it did indeed name the next leader of the Gotei 13, he wasn't sure he wanted to open it. Nonetheless he was obligated to do so.

He popped the seal, opened the letter, and began reading aloud.

_Kyouraku-kun,_

_If you are reading this, then you must know I am dead, and Sereitei has suffered losses unimaginable. There is no soutaichou, and many taichous have been lost. It saddens me to think of how much damage was dealt to us by the Arrancar War. _

_  
I wish to name the next soutaichou to alleviate postwar conflict, but if the one I named has died before this letter was opened, the remaining taichous must choose the next soutaichou themselves. _

_I have named Kyouraku Shunsui as the next soutaichou, effective as soon as this letter is finished being read._

_  
As for the remaining posts, please follow your judgment when deciding how to choose them. As the soutaichou, I trust you, Shunsui-kun._

_Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryuusai_

_Former Soutaichou_

As he finished reading the letter aloud, he looked up to see the reactions of the other four remaining captains. However, he could find none, as all four had bowed once they heard Yamamoto had named Kyouraku as the new soutaichou.

As much as he didn't want to, Kyouraku shed his 8th division haori and put on the overly large haori of the 1st division. Sereitei had a new commander.

"Please, stop bowing. You're embarassing me!" exclaimed Kyouraku once he finished putting his pink haori over his white one. "Stop!" He smiled as he said this though.

However, that feelign went away as soon as the repercussions hit him. He was, barring the Spirit King himself, the new ruler over Sereitei. It was his job to find eight new captains, and fast.

"As my first order, we must put out notice of an open captaincy test. Our numbers have been cut short, and we must fill the ranks again," he ordered. New captains needed to be found, and fast.

"Starting tomorrow, for seven days, any shinigami who wishes my attempt to claim the post of captain for themselves. The top eight will be selected, and the Gotei 13 will be full again."

The notice was put out. The post of captain was officially up for grabs.

**The Next Day**

"Attention potential captains! Please, sit. As you know, the Gotei 13 is in need of eight shinigami who can uphold the ideals of captaincy, who can protect Sereitei should the need arise, and who can lead others effectively and decisively. If any of you feel you cannot live up to this statement, leave," announced Kyouraku, seeing nobody stir. "Okay then, welcome to tryouts!" he announced with a hearty smile on his face.

"Before we begin, let me warn you. Some of you are certainly more qualified than others." As he said this, he glanced at a shock of red hair and a bright shiny spot in the crowd. "Some of you may not be good enough. Others may be dismissed outright. Do not fret though; just know that the one who bested you is merely more able to do the duties. Know that, it may not be now, but someday, each of you may be capable of taking that post yourself. Now, please, let us begin!"

At this, the huge gathering of shinigami stood, bowed, then divided themselves up according to a number they had been given, between 1 and 6.

"Those of you who were given number one, step forward." A couple dozen stepped forward. "All else, please come back on the day noted by your paper. Number 2, come back tomorrow, number 3, the next day and so on." As most of the shinigami left, Kyouraku stepped down and addressed those who remained. "Now then, let's do this."

The other four captains were seated at a long bench, waiting to begin. Once Kyouraku sat down, the shinigami lined up and the first one stepped forward.

"Please, ocne you come up, state your name, division, and any ranking you may hold in your division," announced Komamura, taking the temporary post of Kyouraku's adjutant.

The shinigami who had stepped forward nodded. "Hai. My name is Yamada Hanatarou, Division 4, 4th seat." He stuttered it out, but managed to finish strongly.

Kyouraku nodded, and motioned for Komamura to begin.

Komamura nodded, then looked towards Hanatarou and spoke. "Yamada Hanatarou, 4th seat of the 4th division, please, let us begin. First, your zanpakutou. Are you able to release it?" asked the giant canine.

"Hai. Allow me to demonstrate," he said as he pulled out his zanpakutou. "Fulfill, Hisagomaru!"

Once the command was finished, the zanpakutou shrank down to the size and shape of a small scalpel.

Byakuya noted this, and motioned for Komamura to continue. Komamura again spoke. "What are you abilities?"

Hanatarou replied, "As a member of the 4th division, I have knowledge of healing methods, both physical and kidou in nature. I also have a number of supplements and items I carry everywhere to assist me in my duties. In addition, I..." he trailed off.

"Yes?" inquired Komamura.

"I.. I also have achieved Bankai..." he said weakly, as if he was trying to hide it.

The captains were surprised to hear that a 4th seat had attained Bankai, and even more so to discover he would try hide it. However, now was not a time to press the issue, and Komamura said what was on everyone's mind.

"Show us."

A/N – Yay! Chapter 2, done with good time to spare.

Sorry if it seems kinda drawn out. This won't happen most of the time. I just wanted to show the basics of what the process would be, and I'm only going to show a few 'interrogations' as is. If any of you wish to see anybody in particular, let me know via review. Once enough reply, I'll post the next chapter with more of these to follow.

And BTW, for those who can't figure it out, Hanatarou is one of my favorite characters.

I already have an idea for his Bankai, and I'm sure some of you know how he got it. coughUraharacough.

I might explain later.

TTFN!


	3. Ch 3 Recruitment

Disclaimer - insert generic no-claim disclaimer here regarding me and Bleach and not owning it 

CF: Yay! People love me! BTW, after this I'll take a break from Soul Society and maybe delve a bit into Ichigo's current state and why. Prepare to be shocked, amazed, even possibly bored. And now for something totally different!

Ch 3 – Recruitment

"Show us."

Hanatarou nodded, gulped, then started to gather up his reiatsu and force it high enough to trigger his Bankai transformation. He had only managed to do it twice before, so it took him a little longer than a normal Bankai user would have. He was gathring enough reiatsu to make some of the seated officers behind him nervous and a couple lower seats fall to their knees. After a solid thirty seconds of building, Komamura was about to tell him to stop until he heard Hanatarou's voice, no longer weak sounding, call out the wonderful word everyone was expecting to hear.

"BANKAI!"

The swirling reiatsu suddenly stopped, then sucked itself back into the "young" shinigami and his zanpakutou. The scalpel's blade lengthened and curved, and the hilt vanished completely. A large mass of reiatsu gathered on his back, forming into a large spool of spirit threads similar to the Quincy technique, with the back end – the one which wouldn't go into the needle - connected to the base of his neck.

His zanpakutou finished morphing, and once the light dimmed it was revealed to have changed into a stitching needle not unlike one for making stitches to close wounds. The spool settled into floating behind his back, and the threads dimmed down to look like normal threads.

Hanatarou himself ended up dressed looking like the stereotypical doctor, scrubs, mask and all. However, his appearance belied his power and many shinigami in line were finding it hard to stand and breathe.

The captains were amazed. Hanatarou removed his mask and began talking.

"This is my zanpakutou's Bankai form, Hari Hisagomaru (Hook Gourd). As you can see, it looks like a stitching needle for closing wounds. However, what it does is if I hook it through the flesh of somebody I can take control of that particular limb; if I hook their back I can control their whole body. The downside of this is that the amount of thread I have to do this is limited, and the more reiatsu the target has, the more thread is taken up. In addition to that, I can use it to close wounds and heal them immediately; this also uses thread, but much less thread."

Hanatarou finished talking, then stood straight and looked at the seated captains. "Is there anything else I need to do?" asked Hanatarou.

"Only a few more questions, then you may go," answered Komamura. "First, how long have you been a seated member of the 4th division?"

"I've been seated as the 4th seat since shortly after the first conflict with Aizen, the 7th for 10 years before, but I was first seated as the 19th almost 90 years ago."

"Thank you," answered the huge canine. "Finally, how long have you been a shinigami?"

Hanatarou squirmed at this. "Ano...only 120 years..." he said weakly, knowing there were others in line who had been shinigami for almost 3 times as long as he had. However, the captains at the table were impressed. Only 120 years, and already a 4th seat who had achieved Bankai. They marked some things down and Komamura dismissed him. He dropped his Bankai and wobbled slightly due to the sudden loss of power, but was determined to continue looking strong so he wouldn't lose face in front of the other people present. After he left the area, Komamura looked back in line and was shocked.

Out of the original 30 or so shinigami in line, after seeing Hanatarou had attained Bankai, only 4 or so remained who felt confident enough to compete.

"Alright...next!"

**Six days later**

Six days of grueling interviews, impressive displays and disappointments galore, the original hundred or so candidate had dropped to little more than 20. 10 of them were currently vice-captains, some were 3rd seats, and there were one or two 4th and 5th seat shinigami present. All of them seemed more than capable of captaincy.

As instructed, each shinigami told to come back on the final day was present to hear the Captains' announcement. The gathered souls were talking amongst themselves for a while, but soon quieted once they saw Kyouraku stand at the podium, Nanao at his side with the 1st division armband on her arm.

"Greetings, shinigami! As you may know by now, you are the top souls our board of captains here has chosen for the posts of Gotei 13 Captain! Unfortunately, only eight of you can obtain that particular rank and as such, we five have been hard at work trying to find a way to decide who earned it. So far, the only way we have all agreed can truly show your power is by way of a tournament!" 

At the word 'tournament' each shinigami present was shocked and excited. A tournament? They wanted to know more details, so the noise died down as quickly as it started.

Kyouraku continued. "The tournament will be a single bracket tournament, the top 8 best fighters earning the rank of Captain. Without further ado, I give you: the bracket!" At this, he made an almost imperceptible motion to Nanao who drew back a curtain and revealed the names and matches of those fighting.

"Let the first match begin!!"

A/N – I realize that its a short chapter, but it sets up the tournament.

As I said, next chapter or so will be an Ichigo feature, and I'll alternate every chapter or so to something on Ichigo. Ichigo fans rejoice!

As always leave some cheese and a review on the way out.


	4. Ch 4 Reflections

Disclaimer – No own Bleach. Done.

CF: Alright guys, thanks for the reviews. Great help! Also, if any of you want, I'm still in the planning stages of who's in the tourney. OCs help here guys! Credit will be given where credit is due!And now for something totally different!

Ch 4 – Reflections

_Ichigo's POV_

I don't sleep much anymore, if at all. After the first week or so, I noticed that a little more of me would change after I woke up. At first it was just my fingernails: they slowly changed into claws. Shortly after my back started to feel sore all the time and I felt a stub above my waistline. It was clear what was happening to me as I was sleeping.

My hollow was taking over.

He had the perfect opportunity while I slept. I may be insane, but I'm not stupid. He used this time to slowly manifest and take over as I slept. My shattered mind was no match for his efforts to take over while I slept.

While I was awake, I at least was able to hold him in, at least to where all that was showing was half a mask at all times. It let him get more powerful though, and I don't know if I can hold him in much longer forever.

I've not slept in 2 weeks. I'm not sure if that;s a good thing, because it makes it harder and harder for me to hold him in, and even then I'm starting to fail.

Yesterday, he managed to take hold while I was awake, and fully turned my body into a hollow, much like the time I was training with Shinji's crew. After a few minutes, I managed to get control back from him, but I was changed more in those few minutes then I had for been for several weeks. My tail had all but fully grown, my right foot was slowly becoming more likzardlike, and my hands were both fully covered in white skin and ended in long tapered claws.

I'm afraid that even with Nel and Grimmjow living here with me I may not be able to stay safe much longer.

Speaking of the two former Espada, I'm sure you'd like to know what they're doing with me.

Yama-ji was kind enough after the War to let me live, even though he saw how fragile my mind had become. He opened a pocket dimension only openable by the current soutaichou and the two Arrancar previously mentioned.

I was told to live here either until I died again or until I was able to fully grasp control over my hollow side once and for all. Unfortunately, since I'm pretty hard to kill, it's gonna come down to who has the better mind, me or him?

Back to what I was saying. Yama-ji, in his final living breaths, opened this door for me and told me to get in. I was in no state to disobey him, so I hobbled in as steadily as I could – in other words, as drunk as my father on his birthday.

Nel and Grimmjow were charged with keeping me in the dimension until I was capable of living amongst the shinigami again. As the only two people capable of stopping me if I go on a rampage, it was an obvious reason they were even considered being left alive after the War.

Speaking of rampages, I went on one yesterday when I turned fully again. Nel almost lost an eye trying to stop me, and Grimmjow had to release Pantera so he could hold me.

It wasn't fun, but they really showed some care for even thinking of sticking around to help me. I really need to thank them. They put up with so much crap from me, it's a real wonder they haven't tried to kill me yet.

Nel is nice when she acts her age instead of her little Nel persona. I was tired of it in Hueco Mundo, I hate it now. But, even then, the jokes we have help keep me sane and alive, remembering exactly who I am and not letting me forget.

Grimmjow on the other hand, all he wants to do is fight. Every now and then I oblige him, but I never use my Vizard powers. It handicaps me a bit, but then I enjoy it a little more. After the fights though, I always feel a little tired, so we only fight sparingly.

I feel tired now, come to think of it...

_Ichigo..._

Oh no. Is that him now?

_Ichigo...open up..._

Yes, it is him. I need to get Nel, now!

_ICHIGO!_

A/N – Ooh, suspenseful. Keep reading and review. Next chappie should start the tourney unless you want me to continue this little interlude here.

As always, read, review and leave your loving author some cheese!!


	5. Ch 5 Battles

Disclaimer - 01001001 00100000 01000100 01001111 00100000 01001110 01001111 01010100 00100000 01001111 01010111 01001110 00100000 01000010 01001100 01000101 01000001 01000011 01001000

Ch 5 – Battles

"Today is a glorious day for Sereitei! We are in a time of peace, of rebuilding, and of growth! What better way to celebrate then to hold a tournament where the prizes are the illustrious posts of Captains of the Gotei 13?!" shouted Kyouraku across the flat barren land of the former execution grounds which would serve as the tournament grounds over the next few hours (or days, if need be).

"And now, without further ado, let's see our prospective captains!!" he shouted with increased vigor. Nanao only watched and shook her head, knowing her captain would always have a likening for flair.

As he finished, the assembled participants walked out and stood in a line, waiting to be introduced. Once the Captain General was satisfied, he began shouting again.

"From the 1st division, we have Fukutaichou Sasakibe Choujirou!

From the 3rd Division we have Fukutaichou Izuru Kira and 3rd Seat Kiritaterumenos Ashido!

From the 4th Division we have Fukutaichou Kotetsu Isane and 4th seat Yamada Hanatarou!

From the 5th Division we have Fukutaichou Hinamori Momo and 5th Seat Hitonomi Jouzai!

From the 6th Division we have Fukutaichou Abarai Renji and 4th Seat Kikan Rikichi!

From the 7th Division we have Tetsuzaemon Iba and 4th Seat Komamura Ookami!

From the 8th Division we have 3rd Seat Tatsufusa Enjouji!

From the 9th Division we have Fukutaichou Shuuhei Hisagi!

From the 10th Division we have Fukutaichou Matsumoto Rangiku and 5th Seat Koukichirou Takezoe!

From the 11th Division we have Fukutaichou Kusajichi Yachiru, 3rd Seat Madarame Ikkaku, 5th Seat Ayasegawa Yumichika!

From the 12th Division we have Fukutaichou Kurotsuchi Nemu!

And finally, from the 13th Division we have Fukutaichou Kuchiki Rukia!

Now that our battlers have been announced, here is the first match! If your name is not called, please retreat to behind the lines on the ground!" At that point, glowing lines painted with reiatsu-infused oils started glowing.

"Our first match is between...Yamada Hanatarou and Kikan Rikichi! Please step forward and begin on the signal!"

The two shinigami nervously stepped forward (Hanatarou moreso than Rikichi) and when they reached the starting area, turned to each other. Rikichi put a hand on his blade, and Hanatarou quickly pulled something small out of his pack on his back.

"BEGIN!"

At the word, Rikcihi vanished as Hanatarou put whatever he grabbed into his mouth, and his reiatsu levels shot up until he was almost at Renji's base level, then began to forcibly raise his levels until he could really start.

Rikichi appeared out of nowhere and sliced him in his arm, but Hanatarou simply had to take Hisagomaru and swipe it across the wound, healing it. Once the wound was healed, Hanatarou could continue to gather reiatsu and uttered the word which would make or break his match.

"Bankai!"

As the smoke died down, he stood there in his scrubs holding the stitching needle, a larger than normal amount of thread floating in the spool behind him. He immediately threw the needle at Rikichi and snagged his free hand, the needle passing through like butter and returning to Hanatarou;s open hand.

"Now let's have a little fun, shall we?" he said with a genuine smile on his face. He flexed his fingers and made intricate movements, and Rikichi's fingers suddenly curled up and backwards, breaking each bone in the process. Some of those in the audience who knew Hanatarou were shocked, but remembered rumors that after activating Bankai some people not only physically changed but mentally. For instance, when Ichigo had gone through Bankai, he usually became a calmer, more logical and battle-seasoned person. Hanatarou's zanpakuto must have been a real sadist to change him that much.

His free hand gone, Rikichi decided that he had to get serious fast or else he would lose for sure, and decided that he needed to release his zanpakuto. He held his blade in a reverse grip, blade behind his head and shouted "Kutsurogeru, Rasshu! (Loose, Lash!)" His sword melted and passed through his hilt, which morphed into a leather handle. The blade materialized into a shiny black leather whip, complete with a cat-o-nine-tails on the end.

"My whip is nowhere near as cool as Abarai-sama's, but it gets the job done! Dageki!" At the last word he swung the whip forward and a lance of energy shot out of each tail on the end, each beam whipping Hanatarou as it swung by. He looked unaffected, merely taking his needle and threading it through each bleeding hole. As the needle went through each hole, the wound closed with a steaming hiss and his thread supply slowly shrank. It was now around three-quarters of what it had started as. Hanatarou saw this and decided he needed to end this now or he wouldn't be able to keep his Bankai up any longer.

"Rikichi-san! As enjoyable as this fight has been, I must end it now! Please forgive me!" he shouted as he shunpo'd next to Rikichi and started threading the needle through the arm that held the whip. Nearly half of his remaining thread became transparent, but he was okay with that.

"Rikichi-san, allow me a moment before I finish this to explain something. As long as we have been friends, I feel slighted by you for ignoring my abilities. While it mayh be true that by reitsu levels are nto nearlt as large as your precious 'Abarai-sama' or even yourself, even after taking our special pill, what I do possess has been refined and sharpened to a point, not," he pished the needle in a bit, causing Rikichi some pain. He tried to run, but found he could not move his legs. "Unlike," he pushed a little more. "A needle." he finished, threading it all the way through and watching as almost all, save for a few feet of thread, vanished.

He made some more complicated motions with his fingers and his arm swung around and wrapped his whip around his neck several times, cutting off his air supply.

"You have been a fun match, but I muct go now. My reitasu is starting to vanish, and I need rest," he said, finishing just as Rikichi fell to the ground, unconscious, his whip returning to its sealed state. He dropped his Bankai and almost fell himself, but held himself up long enough to hear Kyouraku annoucne him the winner. He left the area to cheers and as soon as he sat down next to Rukia, he fainted. She gasped, then smiled as he leaned on her for support, amazed at how far eh had come since he had been in the party to rescue her from here so long ago.

"...fantastic match! Amazing! Let's hope the other matches are as satisfying as that one!" she heard, only listening to the end.

"As for the next match, would Madarame Ikkaku and Sasukibe Choujirou please come on down! Your match is up!"

Cheers erupted as the bald 11th division officer strolled down and smiled as he began his famous 'Lucky Dance.'

He smiled and looked at the gentlemanly Choujirou, saying "Let's have a good match!"

Kyouraku looked at the old man and the young strongman of the Fighting Specialist Division. He took a big breath as he saw them finish preparations.

"BEGIN!!"

A/N – Okay, first off, I will explain later how Ashido is here. I think he's real cool and I wanted to use him, plus I need all the Shinigami I can get.

His last name loosely means Menos All Slayer, but if it's wrong lemme know. Its a fake name he got when he came back and... just read about it when his match is up.

Second, yay Hanatarou! I lurve him! Sorry for making him so sadistic in his Bankai, but hey. Like Toushirou it's incomplete. Maybe soon i'll explain how he (and maybe some others ??) got Bankai despite being relatively young.

As always, read, review, and leave me some cheese!!


	6. Ch 6 Battles Continued

Disclaimer – WHHEEEEE!!!! I do not own Bleach.

Ch 6 – Battles cont.

After hearing the signal, Ikkaku disappeared and reappeared behind the elderly man, raising his sword hoping to get a quick kill in. Choujirou, aged as he was, was ready for this and as Ikkaku swung his sword in a low arc across where the neck should be, Choujirou simply swung his head out of the way and swung his own blade across Ikkaku's legs, not cutting deeply but making it a clean cut across both thighs.

Ikkaku landed after his swing and found it hard to stand; the old man had cut him across his thigh muscles and made standing VERY painful. He opened his sword's hilt and spread some of the clotting solution across the wound, hoping it might help a little. Testing his legs he found it helped a little, but not much. He resorted to outright ignoring the pain and standing tall.

He made another dash towards the old man and swung in a high-low arc across the other man's chest, but again, Choujirou simply swung his body out of the way and used his still-unreleased blade to stab Ikkaku in his hilt arm (remember, Ikkaku fights with both hilt and blade). Ikkaku, beginning to tire of playing, decided to get serious and end this fight quickly before Choujirou decided to unleash his zanpakuto. 

"Grow! Houzukimaru!" he yelled, now holding a simple yari with a tassel on the end. "Split!" he commanded to his spear, and the pole split into its three distinct sections. Now holding one section in each hand and the middle floating behind his head, Ikkaku felt ready to get started.

He flash stepped behind Choujiro and, spinning the middle section, initiated a whirlwind of blade and tassel onto the old man. Once again though, Choujiro simply swung his body back and forth between the two parts and once the assault was finished, sliced the 11th's right arm open along his bicep line. Ikkaku nearly lost control of his arm then and there, but after willing his arm to stop shaking, he jumped back and wildly looked at the old man. _How does he not have a scratch on him?_

Choujiro, sensing his question, laughed and began speaking. "It's a philosophy of fighting called _neutral jing._ It follows the idea of 'wait and act.' Basically, it means wait until your opponent acts, then act in an according manner. I make no action until you do, and when I do, it's only what is needed to counter yours. I have only been hurt fighting one man, and that was because his flames reached further than I thought they did.

Now then, let's start this match for real, shall we?" the gentlemanly shinigami stated, raising his zanpakuto up level with his face.

"Pierce, Gonryoumaru!"

With that, his blade slimmed down and became noticeably pointed, the hilt developing a basket guard and an elegant pommel. After the rapier's form settled and the light diminished, he took up a new stance, one hand behind his back with the blade facing Ikkaku.

"Prepare yourself."

He lunged quickly at the bald shinigami, much faster than the 3rd seat thought he could move and was caught by surprise. The tip of the rapier pierced his left thigh, and with a jerk was pulled out and ripped a hole in his skin. Blood starting oozing out, and Choujirou took up his stance again.

_This guy is something else, _thought Ikkaku. Of course, no one had really ever seen him in battle; he was usually at Yamamoto's side in the War Room, planning instead of fighting. However, this element of surprise would soon end.

"Oh really then? You can move that fast? Well then, let's crank this up a notch!" yelled Ikkaku as he began to gather more and more reiatsu until it was finally high enough for his transformation. He tore his yari apart and slammed the bladed and tasseled section together, while yelling the magic word.

"BANKAI!"

The shaft vanished. The blade grew and became distorted until it was the shape of an axe blade, but much larger. A handle appeared on the long side and a dragon crest formed on the blade. Two chains grew out of the side, one ending in an oversized Shaolin spade, the other into a guan dao. He grabbed these two blades, the large axe head floating behind him.

"Let's go!"

He threw the guan dao blade at Choujirou, the chain growing and multiplying letting him keep a hold on the other two parts. The elderly shinigami swung to the side allowing the blade to slip past him. As soon as he swung out of the way, Ikkaku threw the spade at him, catching him across the arm. It tore a huge gash in him forearm, and he nearly dropped his sword. He flash stepped out of the way so the blades would not cut him on the return.

Ikkaku saw this and grabbed a hold of the center blade's long handle and began to spin it. He had gotten much faster at spinning the blades since he first unveiled his Bankai and as such the crest filled faster. The blade edges began to shimmer with a crimson aura and the red filling quickly reached the dragon's head.

A loud roar was heard and silenced by an equally loud chime. The thrown blades returned to his outstretched hands, and the 3rd seat disappeared and reappeared behind Choujirou. He pulled the arm holding the Guan dao back and, before he threw it forward, he smiled and said " Prepare yourself." 

He threw it forward and cut the muscle in the former vice-captain's free arm in half, causing a huge amount of blood to spew out and the elder man to drop to his knees. However, he never dropped his blade or stopped looking at Ikkaku.

"Okay then," the elder man said, before thrusting his rapier into Ikkaku's chest just below his lung and uttered one last word before collapsing.

"Pierce."

He dropped to the floor, the blade pulling out of Ikkaku's chest. The bald man laughed and began smiling as the older man fell, but suddenly felt like collapsing himself as the rapier pulled out.

He looked down and saw that the edge of the zanpakuto had grown tiny little barbs everywhere, grabbing and ripping organs as it pulled out of the body.

Ikkaku barely remained standing. He managed to hear the eccentric soutaichou declare him the winner, then collapsed in a heap, listening to 4th division shinigami scrambling around them to get them both healed.

He felt like he deserved a little break. He held a broken sword, and smiled. He hadn't had to let loose like that in a long while.

A/N – Woot! Go senior citizens! I got the idea for his sword's ability at the near end, after remembering the preferred method of killing with a rapier (stabbage!). I figure what could cause more damage then little barbs grabbing and ripping organs and skin and blood vessels apart as it pulled out?

Next chapter – Interlude to a Death! WOOHOO! Ponder that as you leave me a review and a nice hunk of cheese!


	7. Ch 7 More Battles!

DISCLAIMER – I do not claim to own ANYTHING except a spiny mouse, a cat, this computer, and a coupe pieces of clothing. Jetzt fangen wir an!

Ch 7 – More Battles!

"What an exciting match between two expert shinigami! Ikkaku as always showing strong support from the 11th division, known for its vicious fighting!" summarized the Captain General.

"Now for our next match! First up, a lovely young lady from one of our noble clans, Kuchiki Rukia!"

As her name was announced, she blushed at all the applause she was given, and quietly walked to the stage.

"Facing her will be the..ahem...'beautiful' member of the 11th division, Ayasegawa Yumichika! Would you please come on down?!" Kyouraku shouted to the assembled combatants.

The aforementioned shinigami flash stepped down to the stage, blowing kisses to all his 'fans' in the crowd. As Yumichika arrived to the center stage, he quickly shook hands with Rukia, wishing her a "beautiful match."

Kyouraku looked down and saw the two were ready. He raised his hand, gathered a breath, then quickly lowered it and shouted "Begin!"

Both shinigami knew the other well enough to know that they needed to start using shikais as soon as the match started. Yumichika held his sword in front of him, shouting "Bloom, Fuji Kujaku!" as his sword reshaped into a falx, and Rukia spun her zanpakuto slowly in a circle, softly speaking "Mae, Sode no Shirayuki," finishing as her blade's telltale long white tassel floated in front of her.

Both fighters looked at each other for a minute, the silence broken as Rukia suddenly shouted "Some no mai! Tsukishiro!" A circle of white appeared under Yumichika, and he, seeing this before, quickly jumped out of the way but not before his leg got caught in the enormous tower of ice and froze to its core.

He landed, careful not to put too much weight on his frozen leg for fear it might break. Rukia saw his caution and switched to another attack.

"Tsugi no mai! Hakuren!"

A massive wave of ice burst out of the tip of her blade, catching Yumichika's free arm as he stepped out of the way of the deadly mass. He landed again, taking care to step lightly with his frozen leg.

"Ah, Kuchiki-san, I see your beautiful blade is as deadly as ever. However, no matter how much you try, I will still be able to break free with my even more beautiful Fuji Kujaku."

He split his sword into its four blades, and said "Sakikurue!"

Hundreds of peacock feathers appeared and attached themselves to his frozen limbs or, more correctly, the ice covering the limbs. Each feather shone briefly before absorbing the spirit energy in the ice, directing it to Yumichika before the ice, free of Rukia's control and heated by the sudden rush of reiatsu through Yumichika, melted off and formed a small puddle around him.

"As you can see, my beautiful blade will always beat yours!"

Rukia saw this and was surprised. She knew that Fuji Kujaku was a kidou-type zanpakuto, the kind of which would absorb reiatsu, but she never would have guessed the Yumichika would develop it to that extent to be able to suck reiatsu from objects.

She closed her eyes and smiled. "I guess I'll have to take it up a notch then, huh?" She smiled again, then held her sword out directly in front of her, pointed it at Yumichika and said "Yon no mai! Hanashiro! (White Flower)"

instantly dozens of small white flowers surrounded Yumichika, floating briefly before planting themselves in the ground. The petals slowly moved, and a small bit of snow started to spew from the flowers.

Smart as he was, Yumichika had never seen nor heard of this attack. As far as he knew, nobody did; everybody thought that Rukia's zanpakuto only had three dances. However, seeing this fourth mysterious attack only confirmed she had developed another attack.

Yumichika's eyes widened as he suddenly felt some of the snow land on him, sucking away tiny amounts of energy and directing it towards Rukia. More and more snow landed on him and eventually that small amount of of energy didn't feel so small anymore.

Soon hundreds of snowflakes were bombarding him, and he found it hard to stand. His surprise only heightened when he felt Rukia not only increasing her power through the energy sent to her through the snow, but also forcibly raising her energy herself. Such an increase in energy could only mean one thing.

"BANKAI!"

The light snow suddenly increased to a localized blizzard centered on him, but the leech effect of the snow vanished; instead it was acting more as a blinder. He couldn't see or reach out and feel her with his senses, so all he could do was move out of the storm. The flowers had planted themselves only a few meters apart, so a small hop to the rear would get him out of the storm, right?

He took a short jump backwards but saw the storm follow him. He searched the ground but saw no flowers, only withered remains. He used shunpo to get away from the storm enough so he could get a clear sight of Rukia, and what he saw amazed him.

Her uniform had become pure white and a hood lined with fur had covered her head. She looked for all intents and purposes to be dressed as one of those people from Earth who lived in the far North and lived among the snow.

Her blade didn't change, but a constant stream of snow seemed to spew out of the tip, adding more and more to the blizzard chasing him. 

Upon closer inspection it would be revealed that she was slowly sweeping her zanpakuto in circles, moving the blizzard closer to him; this fact was overlooked by Yumichika who only thought of getting away from the ground-cloud following him.

_Damnit! How can I focus on attacking her AND stay away from the blizzard?_ he asked himself. He decided to try absorbing the blizzard like he did the ice earlier.

"Sakikurue!" he commanded, as hundreds of feathers appeared and formed a thick wall between him and the blizzard. He barely noticed it, but as the feathers absorbed the energy from the storm, one of his blades cracked down the middle.

_Damnit, that's right. Each blade only has one thousand feathers in it. I must have used up one blade by now. Heh, I never thought it would be an issue when Fuji Kujaku told me._

_**FLASHBACK**_

_Yumichika was hard at work trying to talk with his blade. He and his fellow 19th seat member Ikkaku had been training hard at trying to find their shikai command for their blades. Ikkaku had mentioned that he was hearing whispers form his blade and wasfinding himself blanking out every now and then._

_Yumichika too had been hearing whispers and blanking out, but unlike Ikkaku, he had managed to hear a coherent sentence from his zanpakuto._

"_...blo...bloo...bloom...bloom..." he heard, over and over. He had been meditating for hours, and could faintly see an outline in his mind, speaking the word._

"_Bloom...bloom...bloom!" it was practically yelling at him. He had remembered that shikais required a command word to activate, so he tried it._

"_Bloom!" he said forcefully at a loud whisper. Instantly he was transported to his inner world._

_He landed in a jungle and looked around before seeing a large peacock standing behind him._

"_Ah, I see the 'beautiful' Yumichika has finally been gracious enough to hear me, hm?" it said with as much pomp as Yumichika himself often spoke with._

"_Ah, I see confusion on your face. Well, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Fuji Kujaku, and I am your zanpakuto, as you can see," the large bird finished, pointing his wing at Yumichika's sword._

_He looked down and saw his blade had turned into a falx and split itself into four segments. He was shocked at this, and turned to Fuji Kujaku._

"_Wow! It's so beautiful! But, what can it do?" he asked._

_The peacock laughed and spoke gently at him. "When you tell it to deviate, it will absorb energy. But be warned, you only have four thousand feathers. Once the thousand feathers are plucked, the blade vanishes and along with it, some of its beauty."_

_Before Yumichika could ask more, he found himself drifting back to reality..._

_**END FLASHBACK**_

_I see what he meant now. Well, I guess I need to be more careful from now on._

He felt a little stronger considering that for each feather spent, he got some energy back but the blizzard was too much for him to handle and he found himself running farther and farther away from Rukia to keep away from the blizzard.

As he moved farther away, he found that the blizzard was not as fast as when he was close to Rukia and saw the stream of snow from her blade to the storm was thinner. He decided to test a theory and flash stepped far away from Rukia.

The storm slowly approached and eventually had to dissipate to little more than a light sprinkle. He stepped closer to her and found the storm moving faster and faster as he was closer to her, and the stream of snow from her blade to the storm was thicker, more active. He quickly stepped back to where he was, and smiled.

He had found her weakness, but now he needed a way to beat her.

After thinking and pushing aside all options, he sighed and began to gather reiatsu. _I had hoped it wouldn't come to this; I hadn't really had time to train this as she obviously has, but push came to shove, so.. _

Rukia felt the large increase of energy from the 11th division member, and quickly rushed towards him, the storm becoming little more than a mist in the process. She feared what he would say next.

Once he had reached a high level of reiatsu, he shouted the word he hoped would help him reach victory.

"BANKAI!"

A/N – Yay! Bankais all around! j/k.

I have a plan for Yumichika's bankai, but right now, I need to know: WHO DO YOU, THE READERS, want to win this match. The last two were obvious, but this one is different. Who do YOU feel should continue on?

Tell me via review, and remember, leave a piece of cheese on the floor on the way out the door!


	8. Ch 8 More Reflections

Disclaimer – Tite Kubo owns Bleach. I only own Clorox.

Ch 8 – More Reflections

_Ogichi's POV  
_

HAHA! Finally! I was in control again! The King had tried to hold me in at the last moment long enough to get those pathetic friends of his to help, but the fool was too weak to stop me.

Unfortunately, the only bad thing about when I'm in control is his constant whining in the back of my mind. I can hear him now.

_Damn Hollow! Give me back my body!_

I laughed and told him to shove it. I needed to have some fun. It's a good thing one of his eyes had turned black already, it was only a small change for his other eye to become black as well. Nel and Grimmjow wouldn't know what hit them.

_NO!_

I laughed again. Quieting my "King" down I heard the distinct sound of sonido in the distance and turned to see Nel and Grimmjow appear before me.

"Ichigo! What's wrong? I felt a massive buildup of Hollow energy," asked Nel, a grave look in her eyes. Grimmjow just looked at me with a scrutinizing look in his eyes, like he was trying to see through me.

I calmed myself down a bit before speaking; my voice was different from his and they'd notice that; it sounded wild and strained, almost like it was being reflected onto itself. I opened my mouth and spoke.

"Nothing's wrong Nel. Just had a little panic; Ogichi tried to turn my arm totally but I stopped him."

Nel bought it as I knew she would – simpleton child – but Grimmjow wasn't so sure. He pulled Pantera from his sheath and asked me to spar.

Fool. He was walking right into my plan. I accepted and drew Zangetsu, holding him over my shoulder.

He charged at me, slicing across my chest. I did nothing, allowing him to cut me and leave himself open. After his blade left my body, I swung the massive zanpakuto down and caught him on his shoulder. However, in my haste to put my plan to kill Grimmjow into action, I forgot one crucial fact.

My high-speed regeneration. Even while in his semi-Hollow form, Ichigo didn't display that particular Hollow ability; it was only when I was in control. Once the white foamy material appeared and covered the wound, Grimmjow smirked and I knew I'd been caught.

He looked at Nel and yelled "THAT'S NOT ICHIGO!" before releasing Pantera and turning into his jaguar-like form. Nel nodded, a scared look in her eyes and released her zanpakuto.

"Declare, Gamuza!"

Her blade vanished and she transformed into her ibexian-centaur form, twirling her lance above her head before bringing it to a rest beside her, point towards me.

I knew I was screwed over royally now that both Espada had released their resureccion, so I decided to make it fun while it lasted. It was a good thing Ichigo had become more familiar with me in his final moments, so it was less shocking for his body for me to activate his Bankai and form my beloved true face over his.

I disappeared with the sound of a sonido and reappeared behind Nel, who wasn't expecting me to move so fast so soon. I swung Zangetsu in a slow arc I front of me, calmly saying "Getsuga Tenshou."

A wave of black energy streaked across her body, knocking her back a few hundred feet.

I was so caught up in dealing with Nel that I had forgotten that Grimmjow was here too until I felt those ridiculous elbow-bomb things hit me by the dozen.

I turned to face him, brushing off my jacket as I laughed maniacally. "Ooh, that tickled!"

I started twirling my nodachi by its chain, moving it back and forth in front of me for a bit until I threw it at Grimmjow, reinforced by several Bala blasts. The combined force of my throw and the high-speed of the Balas caused the blade to accelerate and pierce Grimmjow through his shoulder.

Nel wasn't out of the fight though, as I soon found out. She had gotten up and SOMEHOW I had ignored the clacking sound of her hooves behind me until I heard her yell "Lanzador Verde!"

She threw her lance at me, making sure it spun at an extremely high velocity. Even with Ichigo's bankai active I knew it was too fast for me to dodge, so I did the next best thing; I threw Bala after Bala at it in a spiral making it slow down to a reasonable degree until it pierced me through my shoulder.

I yanked out the lance and broke it in half. Nel was surprised, but recovered quickly and grabbed one of her horns. She pulled the tip off and a lance grew out of that fragment, another tip regrowing on her skull.

Grimmjow ran at me and sliced my entire left arm off, holding Zangetsu (albeit very unsteadily). The arm grew back as the pale white bone-material; the stupid morons had no idea did they? The more of me that physically appeared, the closer I would be to taking him over entirely!

By now I had covered his face and his his right leg, my tail had sprouted, both hands and his left arm, and a hole had started to peel out of his chest. I knew once we traded back so he was in control some of it would go away, but not much. I was getting closer to finally breaking free.

_L...t...go..._

What was that?

_Let...g..._

Was that Ichigo? Fool. He can hardly talk to me he's so weak.

_LET GO!_

The last one was so loud and intense that it made me lose focus and gave me a huge headache. The pain combined with the struggle I gave to keep the voice – which was CLEARLY not Ichigo's – quiet left me effectively paralyzed.

Grimmjow and Nel saw this and, recognizing when Ichigo had similar problems, backed off, keeping their weapons at the ready.

The voice screamed again.

_GIVE THE BOY HIS BODY BACK!_

The boy? Nobody called Ichigo "the boy" anymore, and nobody had before I came into being except for one person...

No. It couldn't be. I had corrupted him. There was no way _he_ could be here, it was not possible!

There was only one way to make sure.

I visited Ichigo's inner world and there he was, standing on the pole in all his glory. His arms were crossed over his chest, his feet hidden by the mass of torn cloak flowing around them. His eyes were hidden by the sunglasses he constantly wore.

I did the only thing I could THINK of at the time. I smiled and said two things.

"Ah, Zangetsu-jiisan. What a surprise."

A/N – Yay! Zangetsu's back! Go old man! Go old man!

Next chappie is back to the fight betwixt Rukia and Yumichika. Remember, tell me who YOU want to win!


	9. Ch 9 Shattered Reflections

Disclaimer – I own some stuff. Not Bleach. Tite Kubo owns Bleach.

CF: Okay reviewers, I have decided to start responding to ye here, so if you wanna say something and have me respond, just say so! Also, I lied. MORE ICHIGO, ZANGETSU, AND OGICHI GOODNESS!

Twiliblossom – Depends. Read and see... :)

Ronin Kenshin – Eh, maybe. Maybe I'll be even more ballsy and kill him for GOOD. Muahahaha!

CH 9 – Shattered Reflections

"Eheh. What a surprise to see you Zangetsu-jiisan," Ogichi said weakly, feigning polite. He knew deep down that if push came to shove, Zangetsu and Ichigo would easily overpower him. He knew he had to choose his words for the next few minutes wisely.

"_Ogichi. What is the meaning of this? You knew the agreement,_" Zangetsu stated in his deep, guttural voice.

"Well, ya see, I just thought that with some more..._influence_...Ichigo would more capable...of..living?" the Hollow said, ending weakly and with a nervous laugh.

"_You knew that the only reason I allowed you to even continue to exist was so Ichigo would be able to use your powers to help his friends. You have broken our agreement. For that you must be put down. I am sincerely sorry Ogichi. I let you become this way._"

Ichigo had been sitting on the side for this whole exchange, in awe of the power and grace Zangetsu had been leaking while he talked. He suddenly remembered the reason he was one of the few people Ichigo respected entirely.

Zangetsu had a genuinely disappointed look on his face, sighing before putting his hand to his hip and drawing a long black sword. Ichigo looked closer and saw it was Tensa Zangetsu, the chain clinking almost innocently as Zangetsu drew it and held it in front of him.

Ogichi saw this and made a swiping motion in the air, pulling his own version of Zangetsu out and holding it aloft. Ichigo took a few steps back, knowing that this would be a vicious battle.

Zangetsu started the fight by disappearing. The Hollow knew that since this was his world he was in almost total control here, but looked up when he felt something.

It was starting to rain. He smiled, knowing that in the rain, he was stronger. He quickly swung his sword back to guard his back and heard a resounding clang as the black Tensa Zangetsu hit his own blade. Prepared for this, Zangetsu muttered a quick phrase, almost unheard by Ogichi.

"_Getsuga...Tenshou..._"

A wave of black energy marked by red streaks lanced its way across the Hollow back, tearing his jacket open and revealing a hole in his back.

The zanpakuto-spirit wasn't done though. He cut more deeply across the Hollow's arm and returned another swing, severing his left arm completely.

Ogichi screamed in pain, but smiled as the pain went away to be replaced with a newly-grown Hollow arm, claws and everything.

He turned to look Zangetsu head on and smirked. "I guess that using a sword won't be able to defeat you, even if I managed to activate Bankai in time. Oh well," he sighed, holding his left arm up and pointing the claws at Zangetsu.

A circle of red energy grew at his claw tips and he donned a sadistic grin.

"Gran rey cero!"

A huge amount of Hollow energy was released from that small ball and Zangetsu found himself in the middle of a crimson pillar. The Hollow withdrew his hand and rushed in swinging the large sword every which way hoping to catch Zangetsu while he was distracted.

He felt his sword his something and heard a clang. Thinking Zangetsu had caught him with the long blade he was wielding, he swung again a little higher only to hear another clang.

The smoke cleared and he saw Zangetsu standing there, his jacket having been incinerated but otherwise unharmed. The old man's long shirt and bandaged middle were reminiscent of Ichigo's Bankai, but the Hollow had other things on his mind.

Namely, Zangetsu's boot.

Zangetsu had managed to, in the second it took for the smoke to clear, shed the remains of his jacket, flash step behind Ogichi, and kick him in the back of his head. Once down, Zangetsu went to stand on Ogichi's head and held him in place while he formed some complicated signs with his hands.

"_Bakudou 99: Kin!_" Streams of cloth wrapped themselves around the Hollow's arms. Ichigo recognized this as the spell Tessai used when he was trying to regain his shinigami powers. He noted it was greatly ironic that Ogichi would find himself the same way.

"_Bakudou 99: Bankin!_" Ichigo recognized – barely – the second half of the spell. The Hollow became covered in cloth, stabbed by long needles made of spirit energy, and then had a large iron black dropped on him. Strong as the Hollow was, this was Zangetsu's world and the Hollow would not be able to free himself from the bind.

The zanpakuto turned to Ichigo and, for the first time since Ichigo had known him, he smiled.

"_Ichigo, I am sorry for my absence. Please, forgive me as I try to explain..._"

He conjured a more comfortable setting for them to reside in, a chair appearing on the side of the building for each of them, him taking a seat in one and motioning for Ichigo to take the other.

"_I am afraid that, soon after you made your way into Sereitei to rescue that young pretty woman, Kuchiki I believe her name was, your Hollow had been able to overpower me and absorb me into his __consciousness. I fought back as strongly as I could, but for some reason his hold on your mind was too strong. I believe it was not long until the outward effects of his control became evident._"

Ichigo nodded, recalling the many times his mask had formed on his body somewhere, usually to save him from a fatal blow.

"_I had managed to hold on until you were facing off against that captain from the 6__th__ division for the second time, shortly after you attained Bankai. The only reason I was able to appear then was because of Urahara's doll and how it forced all of the person's zanpakuto to appear. _

_I feared if you had waited any longer, he_" he pointed at the bound and barely moving Hollow "_would have appeared instead and your Bankai would have become corrupted. _

_During the Arrancar War, I had been slowly gaining my consciousness back. I would like to thank your Vizard friends for that, for had it not been for their intervention and help in controlling him, I would have been lost forever. Shortly after your death, you found your psyche split into many pieces. Gradually, the pieces melded together and you found yourself with three masses of mental power, but none had majority control until the bits controlled by him were slowly absorbing the ones under your realm._

_I knew now was the time to act and slowly began to leech bits of psyche from him. I am sorry to say it took the better chunk of the month to do it. Who knows what would have happened if I had waited any longer. Eventually I found myself with a body again, and it was with luck that he was in control at the time. I was able to reign him in long enough for him to come here and then, as you saw, I was able to contain him._

_This brings me to my next question: What are you going to do with him? You can leave him bound like this, but if you do you MUST be able to keep him bound at all times, which means you must jump whatever bounds you have and become a MASTER at kidou. Any failure could result in a relapse and he could penetrate your mind again._

_Or, you could destroy him now. You would forever lose your Vizard powers, but you would no longer fear control of him. You would be free to continue life as it was before he came along._

_The third and final option is that I could absorb him as he did to me. DO not worry, he would not be able to break free as I did. This __**is **__my world and I am the master here. The only concern is that if I absorbed him no matter what you tried to do, a bit of me and you would forever be tainted with Hollow, and as a result your shinigami powers would be weakened in favor of your Vizard powers._

_The choice is yours._"

Ichigo looked down after hearing Zangetsu's long speech. On the one hand, if he wanted to stay as strong as he was now, he would need to become a master at kidou in order to maintain control over his now-bound tenant. On the other hand, he could rid himself of the problem now, crippling his power for now but ridding himself of Hollow influence forever. Or the third hand, where the Hollow becomes a permanent part of him and his zanpakuto, weakening his connection to his shinigami powers but ultimately increasing his touch with his Vizard powers.

He turned to Zangetsu and opened his mouth.

"Ossan, I want you to absorb him."

The old man draped again in a black cloak looked at him and said "_Very well. Over the next few days I will slowly absorb him. You will feel nothing until the absorption is complete, but once it is, you will feel much, much different. You will not fear him taking over, but your logic may become different and your thinking will be much more instinctual. _

_For now, you do not need to concern yourself. You must return to your friends who are waiting for you outside of here..._" the old man drifted off as the city-setting dissolved until everything was black.

When his eyes decided to open again, he found Nel staring at him intently. Once she saw he was awake, he nearly fainted again due to her very enthusiastic hug and her calling for Grimmjow to "Come here now!"

The teal-haired arrancar appeared and was visibly relieved and surprised to see Ichigo awake. Ichigo saw his surprise and made a mention of it. The former Espada simply turned his attention to the mirror Nel had brought with her one time.

The orange-haired shinigami turned and was shocked to see...nothing. Not a trace of Hollow remained on his body. He spent a few minutes turning every which way to see if any Hollow remained, but none was found.

He turned once again to face his two friends, and for the first time in weeks, let out a genuine whole hearted smile.

**A/N – **Yay! Ichigo is gonna be freed of insanity!

Do y'all like my explanation? I was rather proud of it.

Also, next chappie I will be returning to the Yumichika/RRukia fight. I will be revealing both the name of Rukia's bankai and a little more info about it coughthezanpakutosformcough.

As always, leave a review and a piece of cheese on the way out!


	10. Ch 10 Battles Resolved

DISCLAIMER IN SUMMARY!!

Yayerz. New chappie! Info galores!

Ch 10 – Battles Resolved

"Bankai!"

Rukia was blasted back by the enormous force of reiatsu coming from the 5th seat member. When the light faded, it showed a significant change in both the zanpakuto and the shinigami. The audience and Rukia just stared in shock.

Yumichika's shinigami robes had been colored a deep purple, and a peacock's colorful tail had been add onto his back, giving him a royal look about him. His blade however looked the most different.

It still was split into four pieces, but each blade was no longer made of steel; instead, each blade was now a feather. He was essentially holding four feathers in his hand.

Using the element of surprise to his advantage, Yumichika decided to show off his zanpakuto's Bankai abilities. He flash steppe to directly in front of Rukia, and swung his feathered flax across her stomach. No cuts were made, but Rukia felt like doubling over and vomiting once the slice was finished.

She felt considerably weaker and looked to Yumichika for a solution. He smiled and decided she had the right to know. "As you can see here, Taibu Fuji Kujaku changes into feathers. Now, logic says that feathers, now matter how beautiful they are, cannot cut somebody. Imagine my surprise when I learned that these 'blades' cut instead through a person's spiritual flow. By slicing a person's stomach, I can temporarily disrupt that person's flow of reiatsu and as a result, anything they must do involving it."

True to his word, Rukia found it hard to maintain her Bankai, regardless of how refined her control of reiatsu was. Her hooded jacket kept fading and reforming, and she found it hard even to keep Sode no Shirayuki released. The long tassel kept disappearing and reappearing, and the blade flashed from white to steel-colored. Rukia decided that now was the only time if ever she would be able to defeat Yumichika.

"Tsugi no Mai! Hakuren!" she commanded, thrusting her blade in his general direction hoping to catch him in the blast.

As last time, he managed to get away at the last second, but his foot was caught in the blast. He jumped back and again, gingerly stepped on his foot to keep it from breaking. Rukia was surprised and thought _Why isn't he dying the ice like last time?_

The answer came to her. It must be a drawback of his Bankai. She decided that since that was the case, he wouldn't be able to stop her blizzard again. She decided to taunt him a bit so she had time to try get her reiatsu under control a little bit.

"Yumichika,as beautiful as your blade has become, I must say, my own zanpakuto far exceeds it. After all, my H**okkyokuguma** no Shirayuki will always be more beautiful." She smirked as she saw a vein throbbing in his forehead, then shouted as she readied herself for her next attack.

"Yon no Mai! Hanashiro!" she cried out, planting the flowers in a much wider and irregular circles then last time, finding it hard to manage to keep them forming at all.

Once the flowers embedded themselves into the ground, a massive amount of snow poured out of the small objects and surrounded Yumichika. Sure enough, all he did was try to back away from the storm, unable to send feathers out to guard himself.

Yumichika grimaced and decided to try something else Fuji Kujaku had told him after managing Bankai.

He jumped back until he was a fair way away from Rukia and well out of reach of the storm and swung his falx in a wide arc in her direction.

"Hane Kunai!"

Feathers appeared in the shape of an arc in front of him and shot towards Rukia who was not expecting a long range attack from the 5th seat officer.

Thankfully the feathers only drew blood instead of further inhibiting her ability to manage her reiatsu, which was slipping further and further with each passing moment. She decided to pour every last bit of effort into one last attack.

"TSUGI NO MAI! HAKUREN!"

A wave of ice unlike any she had ever brought forth erupted from the tip of her zanpakuto and caught Yumichika in his entirety. The ice wave subsided, and exploded, revealing a very bloodied and blue Yumichika.

He was also still standing.

Rukia balked at the man's resilience and decided he earned his spot in the 11th division. Needing to finish this – she was dangerously close to empty – she performed one final flash step and ended the fight in what would later become known as the ultimate finishing move.

She flash stepped in front of Yumichika and, as unceremoniously as possible, kneed him in the groin.

Girly or not, Yumichika was still a male and thus it hurt like HELL. He dropped to the ground and surrendered, unable to stand, hard as he tried.

Shunsui was in bouts of laughter as he announced Rukia the winner, and decided on a short intermission until he – and every shinigami watching – could contain their laughter.

_**ONE HOUR LATER**_

Finally able to get it all out of his system, Shunsui called the tournament back to order and announced the next pair: "Would Hitonomi Jouzai and Komamura Ookami please come to the stage!"

The crowd watched on silently, waiting to see what Komamura-taichou's younger brother was able to do. The almost unknown shinigami from the 5th division however was a mystery, hiding until this tournament.

Unfortunately, the match was much less than expected. Besides and impressive show of shikais from each person (Ookami's a strange paintbrush/paper combination which brought his drawings to life, and Jouzai wielding a pair of tonfa with lightning sparking from them) the match was a bust. Each person covered in ink and burn marks everywhere, the young canine-human was awarded the win due to him being less injured.

The next match would prove to be even less fun. It was Abarai Renji against Koukichirou Takezoe of the 10th. The vice-captain's mastery of his Bankai was too much for the lesser shinigami to handle and the win was quickly awarded to him.

The matched consisting of any pairing of a vice-captain any anybody resulted in the vice-captain's win, and the final combatants wound up being the following.

Abarai Renji

Kuchiki Rukia

Madarame Ikkaku

Kurotsuchi Nemu

Hinamori Momo

Matsumoto Rangiku

Yamada Hanatarou

Komamura Ookami

Hisagi Shuuhei

Kiritaterumenos Ashido

Ashido in himself was a mystery to most. Still insistent that he dresses with his cloak made of Hollow masks and walking barefoot everywhere, he didn't release his zanpakuto once during his match with Yachiru. As Rukia was the only one who really knew him, he was a virtual unknown but proved to be an astounding fighter and tactician as was evident in his victory over Yachiru (who in herself was no slouch).

After the day of fighting was over, the Captain-General gathered the ten finalists and announced to them that the next day would be the day the tournament would finish and the captains would be able to decide upon who would be promoted.

Seeing as it was dark and he was in the mood, Shunsui invited each combatant, regardless of where they finished, to his favorite bar and treat them all to a round of sake.

Once they arrived at the bar and had already downed a few drinks (some more than others) Shunsui was sitting in the corner having a good old time with Nanao in his lap, each enjoying a drink when the party was interrupted by a messenger bringing a letter bearing the seal of an arrancar – a hole superimposed over a sword – and vanished.

Shunsui, his party-going mood evaporated, excused himself and paid the bartender for everybody's drinks ("And enough for the rest of the night") went to his office to read the letter, Nanao hot on his trail.

When he got to the large and elaborate office of the Captain-General, he opened the letter with shaky hands. Yama-ji had commanded the arrancar only to contact him with a sealed letter like this on extremely important news. He put on a pair of reading glasses and began reading.

_Kyouraku-soutaichou,_

_Greetings. The is Neliel Tu Odershvank. I am pleased to be able to tell you that our mutual friend has made a positive step to recovery and, according to Zangetsu-jiisan, he will have complete control over his mental faculties within a week's time._

_We hope to be able to bring you more good news soon._

_Arigatou,_

_Neliel Tu Oderschvank_

Shunsui closed the letter, opened it again, and reread it a few times. Nanao, seeing his distress, asked for the letter. She read it, and eyes wide asked the Captain-General if it meant what she thought it meant. Shunsui smile and said "Yes Nanao-chan. It means Ichigo is coming home."

His good mood restored, Shunsui went back to he bar and seeing everybody still there – plus a few more – he made sure he got everyone's attention.

He looked at each person and shouted in a clear and excited voice:

"ICHIGO IS COMING HOME!"

This announcement was met with silence at first, then the gathered shinigami, most of which had personally known the substitute, responded with a deafening, roaring cheer.

Renji managed to get everyone calm and held up a glass of sake.

"TO ICHIGO!" he yelled, tipping it back and downing its contents in one gulp.

The rest of the party followed suit, everyone raising their cup and yelling back "TO ICHIGO!"

The party was back on with more fervor than ever.

Ichigo was finally coming home.

**A/N** – Yay, drunken parties!!

I know I just updated like a couple hours ago, but I wanted to get these stupid fights over with ASAP.

Don't worry, the final fights will have much more intenseness. After all, I only showed you half of the people, really.

TTFN! Remember, leave me some cheese on the way out!


	11. Ch 11 Promotions

Disclaimer – I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.

By the by, this will be a long chapter by my standards. At least compared to the rest of the story so far. I just wanted to open up the next arc.

Ch 11 – Promotions

It was the day after the party, and the day of the finals for the tournament for the Captains' posts. The ten shinigami who had advanced this far had gathered on the former execution site, the crowd no longer present. Shunsui and the active captains had gathered there as well to serve as the only witnesses to the event.

The Captain General cleared his throat and directed his eyes at the ten candidates. "As you know by now, you ten are the best of the best. Today, we of the Gotei 13 will select eight of you to replace those captains who were lost to us due to the Arrancar War. The rules are simple: today will be a battle royale. The battle will not end until only one is standing, and only they will be guaranteed a post as a Captain of the Gotei 13. The rest shall be evaluated by the five of us-" he waved to the four other Captains "- and selected from there.

"Before we begin, preparations must be made." At this, he signaled to the remaining captains and each of them spread out in a huge squared formation and began chanting a spell. Once they finished, the terrain suddenly shifted until it settled to form a quagmire of swamps, mountains, forests and beaches, complete with a river and pond flowing through it.

Shunsui rummaged through his robes until he pulled out an object everybody involved in the War was vividly aware of: a caja negacion box. He quelled the fears on their faces, explaining the reason for pulling it out.

"Due to some of your mastery's of Bankai, the amount of reiatsu spilling from this location will be fearsome and huge. Our version of the caja negacion will not trap you in another dimension; before he died, the former 12th division captain had re-engineered it to only absorb any reiatsu which spills onto its walls to prevent it from utterly crushing our dear home."

With that, he filled it with reiatsu and threw it into the middle of the field. Once it hit the ground, a glowing yellow-orange box grew to enormous proportions until it covered the entire battlefield.

"Once each of you step into the arena, you become fair game to anybody else.

Now, begin!" With that final word, the ten shinigami vanished.

xOxOxOxOxOx

_The Forest_

Predictably, Ashido immediately made his way into the forested area, seeing as how he lived in one for over 200 years. This was where he was most comfortable, and where he knew he would fight best. However, someone else had the same idea.

Rukia made her way to the forest as well, knowing that she would be able to confront Ashido there and, being the only one who really knew the extent of his abilities, felt that she would be his best opponent, at least to where he would have to challenge himself to really give a good fight. She had only been in the forest for a few seconds when she felt a presence behind her and a footfall in the trees.

She turned and pointed her blade at the trees behind her. "Next Dance! White Ripple!" A wave of ice erupted out of the tip and froze several dozen trees in its wake, causing many of them to explode from the sudden cold and send bark-shrapnel flying everywhere. A slight and nearly silent cry was heard, but it was more than enough. She held her sword pointed directly out from her and commenced another attack.

"Fourth Dance! White Flowers!" The flowers planted themselves and, since she was only in her shikai form, they began to slowly leech the life off of whatever they touched. Plants slowly withered and died as the spirit particles which constituted them were absorbed by the blizzard. Rukia smirked as she heard another muffled curse. A slight swishing sound however informed her that Ashido had managed to shunpo out of the way and get to safe grounds. His clear, strong voice called out across the winds of the blizzard: "Defend from the onslaught, Kotate!" A shimmer and a surge of power indicated he released his zanpakuto.

He emerged from the blizzard holding a shield in his right hand, blocking the snow from touching him further. The shield had an ornate design on the front similar to a mouth, with a pattern reminiscent of that on the Right Arm of the Giant. It as large as his body, but he held it like it weighed nothing. The edges were razor sharp, showing that if needed be he could attack with it as well. Having never seen his shikai, Rukia was honored, but knew that as strong as he was without his shikai, she was certain to lose once it was activated. Her fears were confirmed as he effortlessly blocked an onslaught of snow with his huge shield.

Using the large amount of energy she absorbed from the surroundings, she readied herself into a fighting stance and shouted "BANKAI!"

A blizzard erupted around her then settled moments later, revealing her standing in her hooded jacket and her blade's tassel shortened by a considerable amount. A blizzard erupted around them and Ashido immediately felt the effect of snow blindness. Closing his eyes he smirked, relying only on his keen ability to sense the reiatsu of others through the ground. There was a reason he went barefoot everywhere.

Seeing a vague outline of Rukia a few meters ahead of him, he dashed forward and sliced across his field of vision with his shield, catching Rukia by surprise not because he cut her, but because he was able to see her. Composing herself, she doubled the amount of snow around them and found the form of Ashido walking slowly in her direction. Sighing, she took a deep breath and threw her blade at Ashido, commanding her final dance.

"Final Dance! Spinning Blizzard!"

Her blade began to spin like a drill, the point of the blade at the front. Snow began streaming off the zanpakuto in bounds, coalescing into a massive drill-like shape around the spinning sword. Using the now-long tassel, she guided the massive drill towards the figure of Ashido who, only because he was so keen at sensing reiatsu, raised his shield up in the nick of time to block the attack. The sheer force of the drill was immense, knocking him back a few dozen feet, with no signs of slowing down.

Seeing as he wouldn't be able to hold it off, he opened his mouth and verbalized a command to his shield.

"SWALLOW!"

The pattern on the shield opened up much like a mouth and the drill was literally, swallowed by the shield. Once the last bit of the hilt was inside the mouth, it closed again and Rukia was left holding a tassel connected to nothing. Horrified, she began backing up waiting to see what would happen next. After the mouth closed – she swore she heard a burping noise – Ashido held up the shield with the mouth facing her. Reaching into and through the back of the shield, he made a pulling motion and pulled out none other than Sode no Shirayuki, sans tassel. Smirking, he threw it at her, a tassel suddenly appearing connected to his hand. "Final Dance! Spinning Blizzard!"

Snow began spewing off the blade and as Rukia did before, he guided the massive drill directly at her and speared her across her arm, stopping just short of ripping it off.

He hopped down to her level as her Bankai vanished, explaining to her as he resealed his zanpakuto. "As you can see, my zanpakuto can swallow attacks from my opponent. After it closes it mouth, I can 'pull' that attack out from the shield and use it myself, but only once. After that I have to absorb it again.

"It was a good stand, Rukia, but you were fighting the unknown. Don't feel bad." With those final parting words, Rukia passed out as 4th division medics arrived on the scene to take Rukia away as Ashido hopped off further into the immense forest, waiting for the next person to challenge him.

xOxOxOxOxOx

_The Mountains_

Renji had felt an immense shock wave of cold energy erupt from the forest area and knew Rukia had released her Bankai, but he couldn't focus on it long because he was busy trying to fight off two other shinigami who had him pinned down. Shuuhei and Matsumoto were tag teaming him, one attack while the other lent support. Ash was flying everywhere and Shuuhei's released zanpakuto in the shape of a pair of trench knives had given him numerous cuts all over his body, and he was close to having to open his Bankai in order to keep up.

Just as he was about to open his mouth to say the magic word, someone beat him to it. A clearly feminine voice had just shouted "Bankai!" and suddenly he found he couldn't see because of all the ash flying everywhere. Winds whipped it across his face and he wished he had a pair of his fancy sunglasses now.

Once the winds died down a huge leopard made of swirling ash was standing behind Matsumoto, its tail swishing back and forth sending even more ash flying. He looked at Matsumoto and smirked, then swung Zabimaru out and yelled himself. "Bankai!"

Before it reached the giant leopard, the bladed whip had transformed into the massive bone-snake and Renji was now wearing his fur mantle, complete with bone shoulder guards. The massive snake was fast approaching the leopard, but a swing of the 10th division vice-captain's hilt and the cat dissolved into a shapeless cloud of ash and threw itself at the whip. Anywhere the ash cut through fell to the ground, massive amounts of bone cut up and the giant snake's head crashing to the ground. Renji cursed and focused more reiatsu into his whip so as to gather all the pieces and hold them together. However, in his rush to attack the giant Haineko, he had forgotten one thing he was painfully reminded about when a knife dug itself into his back and raked across his spine.

He was considering retreating to lick his wounds when suddenly it felt like a needle was pushed through his back and his cuts all over his back were healed. Looking up, he saw Hanatarou waving back, his Bankai active. He pointed at Shuuhei, then himself, and Renji figured that he wanted to face Shuuhei down himself.

The redhead nodded and lunged after the buxom blond, the giant snake head snapping its jaws as it rushed towards her. Predictably, the giant cat got in the way and Renji yelled out to Zabimaru "Baboon Bone Cannon!"

The snake's head twisted and opened, revealing a ball of dense energy which blew the ash away as Renji was able to guide the massive whip towards Rangiku and snap her up, holding her in its mouth and violently shaking her back and forth. She dropped her hilt and, as Renji thought might happen, the cat shuddered then dissolved and fell to form a huge mound of dust. He continued shaking her for a few minutes, then threw her off to the side and threw her reformed sword after her.

Elsewhere, Hanatarou was having fun toying with Shuuhei. He had managed to snag one of his hands, so he was off making Shuuhei repeatedly punch himself in the face and try to cut himself. Anyone else would have simply seen a grown man fighting his own right hand. The 4th division healer was trying hard not to laugh too much, knowing that once he was tired out, Shuuhei would kill him for this humiliation. For now though, he just rode it out.

Feeling bored, he decided to try for the whole arm. He held his needle in one hand, keeping a hold of the wire leading from Shuuhei to him with the other and launched the curved piece of metal at the tattooed man. Seeing the needle coming, he tried to run but Hanatarou's grip on his hand made him stop, and a jerk from his hand caused him to pitch forward just enough so the needle pierced his upper left arm.

With the whole left arm and right hand now under control, Hanatarou set out to completely torture the poor guy, making him punch himself in his stomach, chest, face and once even in the groin. Shuuhei was almost at the end of his chain, when he managed to catch a shimmer leading from him to the sadist. Thinking quickly and expending a ton of reiatsu in the process, he sliced his trench knives through the threads and found himself in control of his arms once again. Not wasting time, he dashed towards where the young man was hiding and on the way, shouted something Hanatarou was afraid to hear.

"Bankai!"

Once he stopped directly in front of the young shinigami in doctor's clothes, he flexed his arms and smiled.

Speaking of arms, it was no longer only two he flexed; nor did he flex only four; no he was managing six arms, each arm holding a nodachi with a spider's face making up each blades pommel stone. He smiled, baring a pair of fangs and sliced at the young man with three blades at once, Hanatarou being forced to run because he had no defensive abilities in his Bankai form he knew of. Trying desperately to snag one of Shuuhei's arms, he threw his needle over and over, wasting more and more thread until finally his spool ran out.

A light shone from the back of his neck, and Hanatarou was suddenly wearing his regular robes, now holding his sealed zanpakuto. He looked at the blade and saw the gauge was nearly full. He quickly sliced his arm where he had been cut by the nodachis and the red bar reached the top, and his blade turned into its scalpel form. He turned and, as a last-ditch effort move, swung Hisagomaru at Shuuhei.

A massive wave of energy was released from the blade and though he wasn't mortally wounded, Shuuhei was knocked out of his Bankai and knocked unconscious by the massive blast. Smiling that he actually beat Shuuhei, Hanatarou quickly joined him on the ground, dead to the world. Some 4th division shinigami quickly pulled them from the arena and dragged them to the side to join Rukia and Matsumoto, both of which were defeated.

xOxOxOxOxOx

_The Beach_

Komamura's younger brother was faring mildly well against Hinamori, sending wave after wave of ink-demon after her. He could see she was beginning to tire after send blast after blast from her blade at him and using so much kidou was beginning to cost her, no matter how much of an expert she was at it. If they weren't at the beach though he was sure he would have been able to fare much better, but the constant spray from the waves were making his creations soggy and some were washed away before they even made it to Hinamori.

He dipped his brush into the bucket of ink at his side and hastily drew a troll-like creature wielding an axe and a shield and sent it to fight Hinamori. Unlike her, Ookami was doing fine, not tired in the least. His supply of ink, however, was dwindling and soon he felt he may have to reseal his blade in order to fight.

The troll lumbered towards Hinamori, who held Tobiume up and pointed it at the beast, launching a ball of fire at it. It raised its shield and block the first one at the shield's expense, but the second blast managed to blow its head clean off. Ookami glanced down and saw he only had enough ink for one more drawing. He decided to try something and hoped it work. He dipped his brush and started drawing as delicately as possible while still dodging the blasts from Hinamori's blade and hands.

He was finished drawing, and an elegant sword which looked much more real than anything else he had drawn rose from the page. He grabbed the sword and pocketed his brush, waiting for the drawing to finish materializng. Another sword as elegant as the first rose up and he grabbed that one too. He was now holding a dachi pair of swords, the katana in his right hand, the wakizashi in his left. He swung them about getting used to their realistic weight, and lunged towards the tired vice-captain.

He swung, and steel met dry ink as sparks flew from Tobiume and his katana. He pulled his katana aside, pulling Tobiume along by one of its prongs and sliced at her with the wakizashi, causing a gash to appear on her arm and her whole left sleeve to fall off.

He sliced again with the katana, managing a huge cut across her other arm, and the tired woman had finally had enough; she fainted as she fell to the ground, Tobiume resealing itself as she fainted. Ookami sat down and sighed, knowing that he managed a slight reprieve at best, because he had felt the other massive reiatsus and knew he was no match for any of them. When the medics arrived on the scene, he went with them, knowing it was the safest course of action and hoping others wouldn't think too badly of him.

xOxOxOxOxOx

_The Swamp_

Ikkaku had enough of Nemu darting around and attacking him from behind. It was bad enough he couldn't see a thing in this swamp, the stifling air combined with his frustration was making him mad. After receiving yet another shallow cut to add to his hundreds already earned, he'd had enough. He ripped apart his yari he was trying so hard to block with and slammed the opposite ends together.

"BANKAI!"

He grabbed the middle section's handle and began spinning it as fast as he could manage, hoping to at least clear some of this air from here. A chime sounded and a red mist began seeping off of the edges of his blade. He stood atop the swampy ground listening, and heard a timid voice say "Bite them with poison, Dokuja." He waited for more, but only heard a light buzzing and felt a prick on his hand. Suddenly his hand went numb, and he dropped the halberd blade it was holding.

"WHAT THE HELL!"

He heard more buzzing, and felt more pricks on his whole left arm and then he couldn't feel his arm at all. He knew it was still there, he could see it and he felt it with his right arm. He thought maybe it was Nemu's zanpakuto, and – as he would later find out – it was. He waited a little more and then more buzzing was heard, but he was ready this time. He felt they were aiming for his other arm, so he grabbed the guan dao and put it between him and the darts. He heard some pings and smiled.

He grabbed the middle section again and spun it again, this time much slower then usual – due to lack of hand – but still at a good pace. Slowly the chains lengthened and the giant blades began to cut down tree after tree, revealing more and more open area and leaving Nemu less and less space to hide.

Eventually, all of the trees had been cut down and Nemu had been revealed. He glanced at the things on her arm, and decided that it was the source of his still-numb arm.

It was a gauntlet, covering her left forearm and had four small pockets on the top of it with bands behind them. She grabbed these bands and pulled back, small pellets forming from reiatsu into the shape of purple darts and, just as got a good look at them, she vanished, reappearing directly in front of him for a point-blank shot at his chest, knowing it would numb his whole body and leave him incapable of fighting for a day at least.

Of course Ikkaku was shocked by her sudden appearance, and showed it well: he took his entire zanpakuto and swung it as fast as he could inf front of him. It smacked into her small body and, had she not been engineered by Mayuri to have such strong bones she surely would have died. She was still knocked unconscious, and Ikkaku felt bad but relieved that he no longer had to deal with her. Remembering something that Quincy kid had said after they had exposed Aizen's plan after their invasion to rescue Rukia, he reached behind her badge and pulled out the bottle of liquid and drank some, relishing the feeling returning to his arm.

He grabbed his large zanpakuto and trudged off to the center of the arena, knowing eventually he'd meet someone else there. As he was leaving, 4th division medics rushed on scene to recover Nemu's body before the swamp sucked it down.

xOxOxOxOxOx

_The Middle_

Ashido had been waiting here for a while now, deciding that sooner or later he'd meet up with someone. Knowing after this long that only really strong people would be left, he left Kotate active. He felt two people making their way here and, closing his eyes, made out a huge snake-like creature and an over-sized axe moving this way. He opened his eyes and jumped out to meet them there.

The three remaining men had converged at a plain, nothing more than a wide, open space. No trees, no hills, no water. Meadow stretched for miles.

Renji looked at Ikkaku, who looked at Ashido, who looked at Renji. The three nodded, and charged each other in a final dash, each putting as much into this last strike as they possibly could. Reiatsu ran rampant from the location, and a bright light was all that could be seen throughout the whole box.

_**The Next Day**_

"Greetings, honored guests!" the Captain General exclaimed across the thousands of souls who had gathered in the center of Sereitei to witness the induction of the new captains to the Gotei 13.

"We are gathered here to witness the promotion of eight individuals tot he highest honor among the Gotei 13: the rank of Captain. Each of these fine shinigami have earned this post, and we hope to do them honor by awarding them this rank.

Would the new captains please step forward!" he yelled, as eight individuals walked forward amidst wild cheers and applause.

Shunsui waited for the applause to die down before continuing.

"Introducing the new captain of the third division: Kiritaterumenos Ashido!

The new captain of the fourth division: Yamada Hanatarou!

For the fifth division: Abarai Renji!

For the eighth division: Matsumoto Rangiku!

For the ninth division: Hisagi Shuuhei!

For the eleventh division: Madarame Ikkaku!

For the twelfth division: Kurotsuchi Nemu!

And finally, the thirteenth division: Kuchiki Rukia!"

As each new captain's name was called, they stepped forward, bowed, and Nanao gave them their new haori which they put on eagerly. When Ikkaku's name was called, he was almost brought to tears as he saw that Zaraki's haori was salvaged from Hueco Mundo and was being given to him. He was struggling not to cry as he put on the ragged piece of clothing. Each of the new captains bowed once more as Kyouraku repeated himself one last time.

"Your new captains!"

Cheers were heard for miles, applause echoed across the plains, and whistles and shouts ran amok. Nobody noticed the microscopic arrancar climbing behind the stage, his reiatsu invisible thanks to the bangle he wore similar to the one Inoue once wore, a tiny dagger held in his hand as he made his way to the only shinigami stupid enough to wear a pink haori.

A voice was suddenly heard clear across the entire field, one that shocked everybody present and caused some to draw their blades.

"Shoot him down, Shinsou!"

**A/N – **Yay! New captains! Do you approve of my choices? Well, who cares. Its typed.

Oooh, who could that be at the end:) Find out next time!


	12. Ch 12 Across the Reflections

Disclaimer – This space intentionally left blank.

I guess I might need to drop the 'Reflections' theme with Ichigo soon, eh?

Ch 12 – Across the Reflections

_Ichigo's POV_

It had only been a day or so since Ossan said he would absorb the Hollow in me, but already I was feeling its effects. My visible reiatsu was no longer pure blue; instead it was turning a deep shade of purple, the appropriate color for a mix of my shinigami and Hollow energies.

I looked in the mirror this morning ans was surprised, for I had overnight sprouted yellow irises, as if I was wearing my mask. However, after a thorough investigation (smacking my face with my hand) I found no traces of a mask whatsoever. I guess some physical changes were gonna happen too. 

The one which gave me the biggest scare though was the tattoo of a hole on my chest I found this morning. It wasn't a true hole, but more of an outline, and it was only on my chest. Right now it was very faint, a very light shade of gray, but I'm guessing it'll become more defined as more of Ogichi becomes absorbed.

Grimmjow was excited because I had decided yesterday I was finally well enough to go full-out in a fight against him, so he's forcing me to fight today. I shouldn't be worried, I was feeling great and was looking forward to this for weeks.

After a light breakfast made by the only resident able to cook (aka Nel Tu) the two of us made our way to the massive expanse of fields behind the modest house Yama-ji had given us. We pulled our respective blades out, nodded at each other, and it was on.

The arrancar started the match by using sonido to disappear, the now-familiar static sound a giveaway. For some reason I was more able to track him, and easily raised Zangetsu in time to block his zanpakuto. I swung immediately after the stop and continue in a hacking, slashing movement until I had forced him to back up further and further, my swings becoming less controlled and more feral, more wild.

After stopping my onslaught and giving myself time to calm down, I noticed Grimmjow had vanished again. I wasn't able to find him until I felt a slicing sensation down my back. Blood began to flow freely from the massive cut, but soon healed over and was replaced by fresh scar tissue.

Deciding I wanted to try something else, I disappeared with a static sound and reappeared behind Grimmjow, a small ball of red energy in my hand. I held it point-blank to the arrancar's back as it exploded – it wasn't enough to kill him, but some damage would be done. His back was bleeding profusely, but it wasn't near enough to stop him; if anything it made him even more battle-thirsty.

He repositioned his zanpakuto and commanded in a strong voice "Grind, Pantera!"

The bony-material began to spread and cover his whole body, accompanied by a bright light. When the light vanished, he was standing there in his released form, smiling as he relished in its power increase.

Knowing I needed to step it up a notch, I held Zangetsu out in front of me as the hilt-wrap covered my forearm. Surrounded by swirling reiatsu, I shouted "Bankai!" and dust flew everywhere.

The dust storm hadn't even settled when a blast of energy wrenched its way free of the cloud; however, this wave of energy wasn't black and red like it usually was, it was now white laced with a black outline. The dust settled, and revealed not only had the color of Getsuga Tenshou changed, mywhole outfit had been palette-swapped to look exactly what Ogichi wore whenever he went Bankai.

However, even though my appearance was almost exactly like my former Hollow, I only felt a slightly increased urge to slice open my opponent, but nowhere near as bad as when I had previously used Bankai while Ogichi was active. It felt good.

I opened the throttle to full and disappeared from the visible spectrum, reappearing behind the arrancar in front of me. I released a slightly less powerful Getsuga Tenshou, then vanished and appeared again and again until Grimmjow had around ten or twenty crescents moving at him. He only smiled and opened his mouth wide as he inhaled a large amount of air and roared at the waves around him.

The waves shuddered for a moment then shattered, reiatsu exploding everywhere. He then held up his hand and made a fist, pointed at me. A Bala flew out of his hand, residual energy making the signature static circle around his hand.

I held up my own hand and fired my own Bala back at him. The force from the blasts resulted in a miniature shockwave, the ripple visible to even an untrained eye.

Grimmjow was slightly distracted from the ripple, the force enough to cause some mental confusion due to his use of pesquisa and the ripple's violent surge on it. In that moment, I knew I won. I vanished...

and reappeared behind him, Tensa Zangetsu held up against his throat. "Dead," I smirked at him, knowing he'd lost.

He sighed in defeat, then resealed his powers into Pantera. "Well done mate. Glad to see you can fight again."

We threw our arms over the others' shoulder and walked back inside.

_Ichigo's mindscape_

Zangetsu sat cross-legged next to the almost gone Hollow still struggling against his bonds. A small stream of energy constantly flowing from the Hollow to Zangetsu, causing the Hollow to writhe in pain.

Zangetsu's outfit, much like Ichigo's Bankai, had been reversed to now have a white outside and lining with black trimmings, and his eyes were now too with yellow irises, but he held only the same amount of Hollow influence as Ichigo did.

Suddenly the stream stopped. He looked over at the bandages, and saw that nothing was there. Ogichi was no more. He sighed and looked up at the clear sky.

"_It is done..."_ he said, dissolving until he was needed again.

_The House; Ichigo's POV_

I had just finished showering and getting ready for sleep, the arrancar taking up the guest room (it had two beds) when I heard an echo in the back of my mind.

"_It is done..."_

I sighed in content, knowing that I was ready. Tomorrow I was going home.

_**The Next Day**_

I stood in the field in front of the little house, next to me stood Nel Tu and Grimmjow. I looked at Nel and nodded. She raised her arm and tapped a space in the air, a garganta portal appearing. We stepped inside and it closed around us. We didn't move an inch when another opened in front of us, and we were looking down on Sereitei. It looked like a ceremony was going on, as a bunch of shinigami were gathered on a big stage.

It looked like it was the end of the ceremony – everyone was going nuts – when I heard a voice yell out something I thought was dealt with a while ago.

"Shoot him down, Shinsou!"

I looked for the source, and saw none other than the same old smiling, eyes-closed shinigami traitor, Gin Ichimaru.

I didn't think. I jumped out of the portal and flashed over to where the zanpakuto was headed, but I wasn't fast enough. The sword was sailing towards Kyouraku, and it was right on top of him...

until it hit just above his shoulder, a tiny arrancar impaled on the end of the sword. It retracted, taking the arrancar with him, and the garganta he was leaning out of vanished as if it were never there.

I landed next to the Captain-General, and asked if he was okay. All he did was gape at me, until I realized that I had decided to come back but hadn't told anyone.

I put my hand out shakily and said "Kurosaki Ichigo, ready to serve."

He grabbed it, smiled back and said "Welcome back."

**A/N –** Yayers! Ichigo is back in Sereitei! And plot exposition!

Who was this tiny arrancar? Why is Gin still alive? How is everyone gonna react to the new Ichigo?

Find out next time, on AF-TER-MAAAAAAAAAAAATH! /DBZ 


	13. Ch 13 First Day

Disclaimer – [insert generic funny quote here. Laugh. Rejoice. Read.

Well, after seeing the trailer for the DiamondDust Rebellion, it is official. I have made up my own version of Hisagi's shikai and Bankai releases.

**SPOILERS** For those who haven't watched, it forms a polearm of some kind. **/SPOILERS**

Sorry for not updating in a while. School's been kicking my butt, but hey. Here's a chappie on me.

Rukia: Chappy?!!!

No, no, nooooooo!!---...krrssh

NOTE – Repost. I had this chapter originally, but FFNet decided to screw it up and cut off the bottom half. Enjoy!

Ch 13 – The Party and First Day

After they let go of each others' hand, Ichigo looked around in a stupor. Back in Sereitei. Wow. He couldn't believe it. After spending nearly a month and a half with nobody but his Arrancar escorts, his Zanpakuto and his former Hollow, Ichigo's people skills had really been on the decline.

He just stood there dumbly, looked at the new captains, smiled and said "Hi."

Everyone just gaped at him. They couldn't believe it. Ichigo, back, in seemingly perfect health. Ichigo just gaped back, albeit in a lesser manner. _Other people... _he thought absentmindedly.

Only after staring for a few minutes did he realize exactly what he was looking at. 8 people wearing captain's haoris...8 captains had died during the war...eventually, he managed to come to a conclusion about where he was and suddenly felt a lot more embarrassed. He bowed to those gathered, muttered a quick congratulations, and disappeared to who-knows-where with a short static sound.

Rukai watched him leave with a sad, forlorn expression before shortly returning to her mock cheery self, waiting for the blasted ceremony to finally end.

_**---------**_

The new captains were enjoying being the center of attention at the monstrous after-party taking place all across the center of Sereitei. Kegs upon kegs of beer were brought in, crate after crate filled with sake were brought in, there was even a fair number of bottles of wine imported from the living world to celebrate the occasion.

Ikkaku, Matsumoto, and Shuuhei were busy having a drinking contest in the back corner, a heavy betting pool started with around 500,000 kan being placed on each person. Cheers from many erupted when Shuuhei was the last man standing, draining one of thousands of bottles of sake brought in just for the occasion, the other two already being drunk into a stupor.

Hanatarou was sitting off to the side, making idle chat with Nemu about developing new healing technology for the 4th's use. Nemu seemed a little off at having no Mayuri to beat her into working, but Hanatarou somehow felt obligated as a former punching bag himself to help her get over that.

Ashido was busy in an arm wrestling tournament set up by the 11th, where he had already wasted around 20 shinigami, winning some serious cash in the process. He was currently trying to beat the little pink gumball Yachiru but the girl had some serious strength behind her tiny frame.

Rukia and Renji had managed to wander outside and talk amongst themselves, thinking back on when they were simple orphans living in the Rukongai, never expecting to become captains of the Gotei 13.

They hadn't been walking for more than five minutes when Rukia felt a sudden twinge in the reiatsu presence in the air, and stopped. Renji kept walking for a few steps, then stopped and turned.

"What's wrong, Rukia?" he asked back, concern for her sudden stop.

"I...feel someone," was her simple reply. Renji closed his eyes and commanded the mass of spirit threads to appear before him. A mass of red flew up in front of him, some larger than the others, but one thread caught his attention and he smirked. He grabbed it and stepped to where it led: the former execution grounds, where he found none other than Kurosaki Ichigo sitting there, staring at the ground.

In his hands, Renji held a ribbon which was a deep red striped with black lines.

"So, Berry-chan, how's it been?"

THUNK!

Renji faceplanted after feeling Ichigo's fist on the back of his head. He was eating dirt before he even registered that he heard a static sound before seeing Ichigo vanish. "What'd you say, Pineapple-kun?!"

Forgetting the past few months, the two rival/friends quickly got into a small scuffle and a cloud of dust with little more than fists popping up every now and then was rolling around the former site of many deaths.

The now captain of the 13th appeared shortly after seeing Renji vanish, and smiled seeing the familiar bright orange hair of her friend once again. "HEY! Shut your mouths and quit fighting!"

Hearing the voice of a very angry-sounding Kuchiki Rukia, the two men stopped rolling around and stood up, arms around the other's shoulder as if they hadn't been fighting not more than a minute ago.

Rukia took this time to get a truly good glimpse of the new Ichigo. She took special note of his soft, amber eyes being replaced by the harsh yellow of a Vaizard when masked, and the circular tattoo on his chest. Other than that though, she noticed the now calm, serene look on his face compared to the ever-present scowl he always wore the last time she saw him.

She liked it.

Her musings were cut short however as Renji said something stupid and Ichigo started beated up on him again.

Rukia just sighed and decided to try play the role of peacemaker. By that of course, she means throw her giant captain's Haori over the two of them and grab her Soul Pager and wait... and wait... aaand...

SNAP!

She managed to catch a picture of Ichigo and Renji appearing from under the haori, only faces visible, a slight blush on their faces from the tousling they had just been in. To someone else though, it could be taken as something else...

"RUKIA!" they both shouted at once. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

She just smiled, started giggling and turned the phone around and showed them the picture.

A loud THUD was heard as their jaws hit the dirt.

"RUKIA?!!"

_**---------**_

The 4th was full of hangovers the next day. Shinigami from all 13 divisions littered the division's buildings and Hanatarou found himself very busy on his first day as the captain of the 4th. Isane did her best to help him with the massive amount of hangovers which arrived and tried to keep up with the injuries which resulted from the obvious drunken ramblings of a thousand drunkards as they wandered around Sereitei.

Hanatarou had finally managed to get things to calm down a little, when he remembered he had to leave for the captains' meeting soon. He made sure to tell Isane where he went, apologized for leaving, and flash-stepped out the window of his office – the front door was clogged with in-and-out going patients.

On his way to the 1st division offices to meet witht eh other 12 captains, he spotted a shock of red hair and a rather short person with bright white hair stepping over the rooftops to the meeting place. Renji and Hitsugaya had just left their respective divisions to head to the meetings, and Hanatarou sped up to catch up with them. When he arrived they gave him a polite nod and continued on their way to the meeting.

Once they arrived at the meeting, followed shortly after by Shuuhei and Nemu, coming from the ninth and twelfth, they all walked inside and sat at the long table in their chairs. Soon enough, Matsumoto, Rukia, Ashido, Ikkaku, and the others arrived and last but not least, Kyouraku appeared from a back room. Nanao followed shortly after, her large book tucked under her arm.

She sat down and began to write, occasionally looking up to each captain then looking back down and continued writing, in the way a secretary would. Kyouraku made his way up to the large chair reserved for the Captain-General, looked at his gathered colleagues, and sighed heavily. He looked back up and spoke gently but with a grave purpose behind his words.

"We have a problem."

Each Captains' attention, while already on him, was magnified on the official recognition.

"As you all know, yesterday during the ceremonies, a garganta portal opened directly into the middle of the Court and none other than Ichimaru Gin appeared in it. Worse yet it appears dangerous arrancar are still being produced as is evident by the attempted assassination on me at the time.

Gin's actions are to be analyzed now, but our main concern is trying to see how the arrancar was able to move that close to me and not be detected, why the arrancar are now trying to directly attack shinigami in Sereitei, and how Gin was able to track him and how he is still alive.

Nemu?" he asked the young shinigami. "I need the 12th to run tests on the areas where I was standing and where Ichimaru was seen to see exactly how they did what they did."

He continued speaking, looking around at the various shinigami. "In addition, as you all have already seen, Kurosaki Ichigo has returned to us and has already pledge to serve as a member of the Gotei 13. However, before that happens, we must hold somewhat of an 'audition' for him, to best gauge where he should be.

I have alread contacted him in this regard and he has agreed to a demonstration tomorrow morning. I want all of you to meet at the Former Execution Grounds.

Dismissed!"

--

Nemu was hurrying back to her division's ;ab to start analyses on the samples she took of the air when she stopped and felt an odd pressure in the air around her. She turned around and looked, but could see nothing. She materialized the Spirit Ribbons in the air around her and couldn't see anything different: a mass of red, some white, and an odd red and black one which belonged to Ichigo.

Deciding that she'd see what happened later, she continued on and felt the pressure evaporate, then disappear completely. As she opened the door to her building, a tiny arrancar quickly made its way across the road.

--

The next day, Kurosaki Ichigo found himself standing alone in a huge field in front of the Captains of the Gotei 13. All he knew was that he would soon be asked to demonstrate his ability in front of them.

As he was waiting, his mind decided to flash back to this morning and how it had led to here...

_FlAshBacK_

This morning he had woken up in a tree somewhere and was very cold. He knew this. He wasn't quite sure where he was, or who he was with, but he knew he was cold. He also felt a weight on his shoulder, but ignored it for now; he didn't feel and danger.

After taking some time to wake up properly, he found that he was in a large tree close tot he 13th division headquarters. Closer inspection revealed him to be located directly outside of the Captain's quarters. He peered inside the window, ecpecting to see Rukia asleep, but the bed was empty. He looked around and saw she was actually the weight on his shoulder; at least her head was. They had apparently fallen asleep next to each other in the tree after talking about what had happened since the end of the war.

He also discovered this was the reason he was cold. He was dressed in nothing but a light shirt and his shinigami pants, having given his top to Rukia to cover herself (her Captain's haori had been destroyed by Renji and Ichigo after her prank).

What most surprised him though was the fact he couldn't find Zangetsu anywhere. He looked high and low (as much as he could without waking Rukia) but couldn't find the massive cleaver. He could feel Zangetsu's presence and heard a constant influx of his cryptic messages, but he couldn't see him. Finally he looked down and found a hilt of a sword tucked into his obi sash. He grabbed a hold of it and felt the familiar energy of Zangetsu flowing into his arm, and suddenly realized what happened.

He calmed down and decided to enjoy laying here with Rukia, even if she did hog anything and everything to keep her warm (Ichigo was astounded by this, considering she used an ice-type Zanpakuto).

After a few minutes (note: a couple hours) of sitting there she began to wake up as well. It was still early morning, Ichigo had woken up around 3 or 4, and she found herself leaning heavily on his shoulder. She giggled at the look on his face – he was asleep, and his face was twisted into a mix of something resembling a clown and someone in a mug shot. She slowly stood up and vanished into her quarters, leaving Ichigo his top and a quick note explaining she needed to get to her daily meeting.

She left, and a few hours later, he woke up as well. He read the note, then panicked and remembered he had to be at Soukyoku Hill in only a few minutes for his demonstration. He disappeared with a short static sound and made his way to the barren land to await his fate.

_Un-FlaShbAck_

Ichigo stood there, his hilt stuck into his obi sash. He waited. And waited. And waited. And waited some more. Finally, Kyouraku spoke up.

"Name."

"Kurosaki Ichigo." He figured this was customary and wouldn't say anything.

"Age."

"17 years."

"Zanpakuto name."

"Zangetsu."

"His age."

A quick whisper in the back of his head. "Also 17 years."

"Please demonstrate knowledge of shikai."

He gulped. All he knew was that Zangetsu decided to seal himself like this shortly after Ogichi was absorbed, but he never told him the command for release. Suddenly, more whispering. He smirked, grabbed the hilt, and spoke.

"Cut the chains which tie the moon to the heavens, Zangetsu!"

A whirl of purple energy and Ichigo held the massive cleaver in his hand.

"Demonstrate any knowledge of your Zanpakuto's combat abilities."

Ichigo quickly swung Zangetsu down, a wave of purple energy coming off the tip. "Getsuga Tenshou!"

A wake of destruction was left in its path.

"Anything else?" asked the man in pink.

"No sir."

He nodded. "Do you have any other knowledge of your zanpakuto?"

Ichigo smirked again and held the blade pointing away from him, level with the ground. The hilt-wrap slowly unwound and wrapped around his forearm. Reiatsu began to stream off of him and be sucked back up into his being. He shouted on word and it exploded. "Bankai!"

The dust finally settled, and gasps were heard as they witnessed him emerge in his now-white Bankai and holding a white version of Zangetsu. He intercepted the next question and shouted "Getsuga Tenshou!" several times, all while flashing around the area and guiding the dozens of crescents into the sky to crash in a blaze of energy. The gathered felt in awe of the display. The captain-general laughed, knowing that he'd have to hurry or Ichigo would become bored.

"Alright, let's finish this. Do you have any knowledge of kidou?"

Ichigo rubbed the back of his head. "None at all..." He left out eh part of where he'd tried several times while he was away to work on it, but every time had left him nearly eyebrow-less.

Finally, the question he was dreading. "What about your...other...abilities?"

Icigho sighed. He reached across his face, and pulled in a strong clean line. His mask which had become well-known appeared, and streams of pure white energy leaked from his body. He launched several Ceros into the sky and used his increased speed with Sonido to run around and tag each Captain with a small sticker he stole from Rukia's collection.

Once he was done, he let his mask go and had to keep from laughing. Kyouraku was speaking though, so he sobered up quickly.

"As a result of you obvious skills, I have decided that you deserve no less than to be appointed as a vice captain. Since you know this one captain very well, You are hereby assigned to become the vice captain of the--"

BOOM!

He stopped short and looked for where the explosion came from and gasped.

Standing in the middle of Sereitei was a group of arrancar, all in full released form. What surprised him though, was that these Arrancar were supposed to have been killed, for they were none other than the Espada of Aizen's army, minus Nel Tu and Grimmjow.


	14. Ch 14 Surprise

Disclaimer: Yea...

First off, sorry sorry sorry sorry for not updating in so long. I've had personal things happening for a long while now (a got a real job, I've been busy in school, and I just became an Eagle Scout).

And BTW, another thing I have had to go back and fix a little detail in Nnoitra's release in the Prelude chapter due to the knowledge that he turns into a (SPOILER) praying mantis thingy (/SPOILER).

Ch 14 – Surprise!

Hundreds of Shinigami gathered at the former execution site to witness the awesome power the Espada were displaying in the midst of the various Rukongai districts.

A huge mass of purple tentacles morphing into various shapes and colors were destroying hundreds of souls everywhere across the Western Rukongai. Rukia's grip on her Zanpakuto tightened as she recognized the vicious Espada on top, Aaroniero Arurerie, still wearing the guise of Shiba Kaien. She looked above him and saw a massive shield made of panes of reiatsu sewn together covering him from the sunlight, allowing him to continue his rampage unhindered.

Next to him was the tiny arrancar, Ulquiorra. He had released his own blade and was currently causing mayhem, in a calm and controlled manner albeit, all across the outskirts of the Eastern Rukongai. His shark-like form was swimming through the sky, the separate mouth on his head taking huge chunks out of building after building.

Destroying the Northern Rukongai were the top three Espada: Halibel, Stark and the old man Barragan.. Stark and Halibel were tag-teaming a portion of the town, Halibel running wild in her wolf-like visage and Stark slowly lumbering around, leveling buildings as only an elephant could. Barragan simply looked on as he started swinging around like a gorilla, picking up people and dropping them to the ground from the rooftops King-Kong style.

In the middle of East Rukongai Zommari Lemoux and Szayel Apporo Granz were taking out the upper and lower 40 districts with ease. Zommari was moving around so fast that it was impossible to see him until he was only an afterimage and buildings were falling for what looked like no apparent reason. Szayel was simply having massive fun standing back and watching the citizens of Rukongai be destroyed by clones of themselves.

Nnoitra was simply having too much fun in the South Rukongai. He was slicing through crowds of souls with ease, one set of arms here, another there, and before he knew it over a third of the district was dead. He simply smiled in a sadistic pleasure as he stood there absorbing their feeble attempts at stopping him, then quickly bringing one arm down to end that soul's afterlife. Yammy was simply standing back holding a mass of souls in his huge arms before opening his mouth and sucking their souls into his own body.

All the while this was happening, the Captains of the Gotei 13 were astounded as to how in the world had these eight people come back from the dead. Many captains had given their lives to end these people, and yet here they were now. However, before any more damage could be wrought, someone shouted directly into the ear of the Captain-General and he was snapped out of his morbid fascination enough to begin issuing orders.

"Kuchiki-Taichous and Abarai-taichou, take your squads and go defend the Western Rukongai against Uquiorra Schiffer and Aaroniero Arurerie. Kurostuchi-taichou, Ashido-taichou, and Ikkaku-taichou, and Shuuhei-taichou, take your squads and defend the Northern Rukongai. Matsumoto-taichou, Shuuhei-taichou, and Yamada-taichou, please defend the Southern Rukongai. Komamura-taichou, Soi Fon-taichou, Hitusgaya-taichou will defend the Eastern Rukongai. Our primary mission is not to destroy the Espada, we are here to provide safety for the residents of the Rukongai. Once their safety is assured, then we may go on to the secondary goal of eliminating the Espada threat. Is everybody clear on our goals?"

Every in attendance nodded in the affirmative.

"Alright then, get to it!"

As everyone was scattering and disappearing off to their assigned districts, Kyouraku held back the young Vaizard and told him he needed to "go get some friends of his." Ichigo understood at once and tapped the air in front of him with a little Hollow energy. A huge garganta appeared and he stepped through it to the home of Grimmjow and Nel Tu in their little pocket dimension.

When he arrived out of the swirling blackness the first noise that assaulted his ears was the sound of a woman's voice moaning...VERY loudly. Ichigo started to laugh but remembered why he had come in the first place.

"GRIMMJOW! NEL! PUT SOME CLOTHES ON, THE ESPADA ARE BACK!"

In an instant the two former Espada were clothed and in front of him looking dead serious. Well, Nel was, Grimmjow was just looking for a fight and starting rubbing the scar across his chest – he developed this habit of expressing his bloodlust after his defeat at Ichigo's hands in Hueco Mundo all that time ago.

The two former Espada jumped through the garganta as Ichigo followed and closed the giant hole behind him. Seconds later they reemerged back in Sereitei to a scene filled with horror.

All of the Rukongai had been demolised. The Sekkimon wall had been leveled and several division headquarters were destroyed.

The three hybrids quickly began to spread out and find the best places to fight in...

only to stop as the familiar sound of Garganta opening rang through the air.

Two familiar shapes climbed out of these swirling black vortexes and with a static noise made their way to Ichigo's small group. Once they stopped moving, the three hybrids were able to confirm that these two people were, indeed, Kaname Tousen and Ichimaru Gin. There was a slight difference to them though...

They were both wearing the mask of a Hollow.

So sorry for the long time for the update, it kinda slipped my mind.

And, as if I meant to make it worse I realize it is indeed a short chapter. Sorry. Better one next time, I promise. Eagle scout's honor.


End file.
